Kimberly's Run
by captainkodak1
Summary: The world of KP set in a strange world of the future.
1. Prologue

**Kimberly's Run  
Captainkodak1  
Prolouge  
**

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His hair was matted with sweat, his left knee bloodied where he had skinned it in his scramble over the brick wall. Down the road and into the darkness he ran, past the mesh fence fronting the industrial nursery.

Veering to his left, he raced across the bridge that spanned the river. Once on the other side, he ducked between two office buildings that faced the street, making his way down the alley behind the office on the right.

Gasping for breath, he slumped down behind a refuse bin and slid down to the cold, wet, trash-covered concrete to rest.

The flower-shaped crystal in the palm of his right hand was flashing red and black. As he watched, it turned coal black. He laid his head back against the brick wall and tried to focus.

It was only three hours ago he started to run. _Only three hours_.

Footsteps! Someone was coming. The man crouched and chanced a quick look around the side of the trash bin. A lithe figure was cautiously picking its way down the alley.

SANDMAN!

Panicking, the man dashed off down the alley. A blue flash lit the alley as a pop and hiss sounded in his ears. The ground to his left exploded in a white flash. He dodged to the right then feinted left out of the alley and down the street.

A second pop and hiss preceded another explosion on the wall just above his head. The man turned down another alley to his right and came to a halt. In front of him was a brick wall too high for him to climb. He had reached a dead end.

The clinking of a glass bottle compelled him to turn around, to face the figure that had followed him down the alley.

Backing up, he turned his head side to side, hoping beyond hope that he could find an escape. Hoping he could find Sanctuary.

The figure raised its weapon. The mane of hair was silhouetted by the streetlight behind. The weapon started its whine as the figure adjusted its settings.

A HOMER!

The man stared down the barrel of the gun to see two cold green eyes staring back at him. He heard the pop of the gun and his world disappeared in a flash of light. He felt raw, blinding agony as his body was burned, ripped, and unraveled.

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**Sometime in the future...the survivors of riots, overpopulation and pollution are living in a new society. A young society. A society run by computers.**

**Here in an ecologically balanced world, mankind lives only for pleasure, freed by the computers which provide everything. There's just one catch. Life must end at twenty-four.**

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Greetings and welcome to the newest story by Captainkodak1. I would like to thank my friend RufusForever for his help and inspiration on this one. The story is based on the book called "Logan's Run" and the 1976 movie of the same name. Some people loved the movie and some hated it. I hope that you will all enjoy this little romp.

Kim and Company are owned by the Disney Company. "Logan's Run" the movie is owned by Time-Warner.

"Logan's Run" the book was written by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, and originally published by Dial Press in 1967.


	2. Chapter 1 The story begins

**Kimberly's Run  
Chapter One  
By Captainkodak1**

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Kim slumped in the electric car seat, exhausted. Three runners today and she had been backup on all of them. The other DS personnel liked having Kim back them up. If a runner got past them, they would not get past her.

The man seated next to her had been talking non-stop ever since she had sat down.

"You know the score. Your time comes and that's it. You never have time to do it all. I'd like to live to twenty-five or twenty-six, but that's not the way. I accept that. I've lived a good life."

The man turned his palm over to gaze as the flower crystal imbedded in his hand. It was flashing red, then black. It was nearly LastDay for him.

"You know, I'm going to have a party for all my friends and _really_ cut loose. Why _not_?"

The man sighed as he stared again at his palm flower.

"Do you ever wonder if the Thinker ever makes a mistake? I mean, it only seems like yesterday that I turned twenty-four. Has it _really_ been six years? No. The Thinker doesn't make mistakes. I suppose I'm scared."

The palm flower continued to blink red and black.

"Most people _are_," sighed Kim.

The man eyes fixed on Kim.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to run. I'm no coward. The system's right. The land can only support so many people. There _has_ to be a way to control the population."

The man continued to stare at Kim.

"Is the homer as bad as they _say_ it is?"

Kim shrugged.

"I guess it depends on which end of the homer you're on."

As she turned her head to gaze at the man, a small smile crossed her face.

The man turned pasty white. He turned to the side, looking away from Kim.

"Of course, DS agents are necessary. Without DS agents, there'd be more runners. And without homers, DS agents wouldn't have a way to teach others a lesson. Runners get what they deserve. It's the _sleepshop_ for _me_. It's not bad."

Kim shook her head.

"No, it's not. So I've been told."

The man sighed.

"What does it _take_ to be a DS agent? I don't think _I_ could do what you do. I'm not defending runners, but to fire a homer into someone and then stand there and watch. What sort of person can…?"

The man turned to see Kim's eyes burning. His face broke into sheen of sweat as he remembered who he was talking to. His eyes traveled over the well-fitting dark tunic to the black weapon sitting in its holster. Kim unfolded her arms and stood to face the man. He started to shake and turn pale. She smiled at him as she turned away to step out of the car.

"I get off here."

Stepping out of the car as it came to a halt, Kim glanced around and then turned back to wink at the man in the car as she patted the gun on her hip. She walked off into the crowd as the car started off again. The man wiped his forehead with his sleeve, closing his eyes as he sat back. His palm flower continued to flash red and black.

Kim made her way down the ramp into the street. This was not her usual stop. Her apartment was several blocks further on down, but the man was so annoying she decided to take a walk.

Watching the couples as they passed by, Kim came upon a group of younger boys arguing as the light blue flowers in the palms of their hands glowed in the twilight.

"Those reddies aren't the boss of _us_. _We_ don't have to do everything…"

The youthful voices faded away in the darkness as they turned a corner. Another couple walked by arm–in-arm, exchanging a kiss every so often. Kim observed the pair as they passed her by. She did not have a lot of time for a social life. One of only a handful of female DS agents, Kim strove to be the best, male or female.

As hard as Kim was on her partners, she drove herself even harder. Short tempered and tenacious when hunting down runners, she had received more than one reprimand for what some of the city's citizens considered to be "deliberate cruelty".

Not that anyone approved of what the runners were doing, but Kim lost her composure after a long chase when the runner actually led her into a booby trap as she chased him down an alley. Only her quick reflexes saved her from being crushed under a pile of building material. She dove out of the way, right into one of the old trash bins that had been used before the newer disintegration containers. Scrambling back out, she found herself covered head to foot with rotten food and rubbish. As he attempted to escape back up the alley, she dashed after him, shooting him in both legs and both arms before firing a homer into him at point-blank range.

Kim sighed. She doubted she would ever find anyone before her LastDay. There were plenty of places to pay for sex, but that was not for her. The one time she had actually allowed herself to get close to a man, she discovered he was using her as a way to obtain information to protect runners. Hurt and angry, she had shot him down when she found out. That incident had brought her yet another reprimand as it should have been a police matter. However, she was already on her way to be one of the top DS agents in the city, so no one really complained.

_Beep Beep Be-Beep_

Kim took the commscanner from her belt.

"Go base."

William 2's face popped up on the screen. Will 2 was only a few grades ahead of her in the DS, and they had been partners on several occasions. He seemed to take great pleasure in making her life miserable. One of many who thought women were unfit to be DS agents but only stand around and look pretty, to him she was an "amateur" and he expressed that opinion openly and often, both in public and on her performance reviews.

"Kimberly 5, runner spotted in Section 3, headed for the Market. He may be trying to get to the Cathedral area. Intercept and eliminate. I'll be backing you up. Time to go to work, little girl."

Kim's knuckles cracked at his last comment. She activated her commscanner and the runner's trace came up on the screen. Drawing her pistol from its holster, she started her track. The runner seemed to be keeping to the areas where there were few scanner repeaters, but other citizens would see the runner and report in. A citizen could be rewarded if they reported a runner and got a confirmed elimination.

Kim moved with the crowd as she closed in, slowly approaching the Market area. One of her few friends worked in a clothing shop there. If this runner did not take a lot of time, maybe she could drop by for a little shopping.

The commscanner began to beep faster as Kim closed the distance between herself and the runner. She called up ID information on the runner. His picture appeared on the screen. He was a large man, at least six-two to her five-two. The information indicated he had been in trouble numerous times with the police and DS and he was suspected of helping runners.

Scanning the crowd, Kim zeroed in on a tall man wearing a light green outfit. He looked up, saw the diminutive figure wearing the black and grey of a DS agent moving toward him, and took off in the other direction. Kim swore as she began her pursuit.

Around a corner and up the steps to the next level he went, onlookers moving to the side as he ran past. The runner pulled up short as Will 2 stepped out from behind a pillar, his DS pistol drawn.

"Going somewhere, runner?"

Will 2 raised and fired his gun in one motion, the shot passing through the runner's legs and scorching the floor beneath his feet. The runner spun and leapt off the second floor railing down to a garden below. Stumbling out onto the floor, he ran straight back toward Kim.

Kim stepped out from behind a wall beside the fountain and took aim. Just then, a blonde-haired man about her age in the line of fire tried to duck out of the way, tripped and crashed into her, carrying both of them with a huge splash right into the fountain.

The runner sprinted past as Kim with a disgusted look sat at the bottom of the fountain and flung her hair out of her eyes. She glared down at the blonde-haired man as she stood up. He remained seated in the water, waving up at her with a nervous grin.

Will ran by, laughing.

"Come _on_, amateur! That is, unless you're wanting to lay your new boyfriend here and now."

Kim screamed as she jumped from the water and ran after Will.

"He's _not_ my _boyfriend_! Besides, why would I want to have anything to do with such an idiot?"

The runner continued down the concourse and then turned down another. Looking back, he could see Will still jogging after him, but he could not see the female DS agent that he had seen fall in the fountain. That worried him, because not knowing where she was could prove fatal.

He had just made it to the end of the concourse and burst through the door leading to a service area when he heard the pop hiss of a DS gun. The shot ripped through his leg as he screamed in agony. Limping up the service way, he looked back and spied the soaking wet DS agent, her hair plastered down, her normally close-fitting tunic now clinging tightly to her entire body.

Kim took aim once again and fired just as the runner prepared to jump off the service way to the basement floor. At that instant the door behind him slammed open as Will jumped into the fray. The shot nearly decapitated Will, blowing a hole in the door just inches to the side of his head.

Will dove to the ground and rolled back to his feet.

"Damnit, Kimberly! Watch what the hell you're doing! You could have killed me!"

Kim elbowed him out of the way.

"And I should be _worried_ about that? Listen, Will: _you're_ the one who ran into the line of fire. If you hadn't messed up my shot, I would have nailed that idiot. Come on! I hit him right where I wanted to. This one has it _coming_. _No one_ makes a fool out of _me_."

Will was about to say something when Kim stormed past him. The cold eyes and grim line of her lips told him all he needed to know. Trying to talk to her at this point would only get him a black eye, a fat lip and probably another mark on her record. Not that she was not likely get one anyway, given her mood. He almost felt sorry for the runner. Almost.

Grabbing her arm as she passed by, Will spun Kim around to face him. Instantly her gun's muzzle came up to within inches of his face.

He smiled.

"_Fine_. _Be_ that way. You know, though, we _could_ have some _fun_ with him. Let's see how many times we can nail him without hitting anything vital. Loser pays for the winner's choice of pleasure."

Kim grinned evilly.

"_You're on_. I hear there's a new gourmet cook working for one of the Pleasure Services. They say his chocolate cake is _better_ than _sex_. Well, I intend to find out. _Plus_, word is that he has magic fingers and I don't mean just to _cook_ with."

Will took one set of stairs down to the basement, while Kim slid down a water pipe to the floor below.

The constant hissing and pounding of the air ducts and water pipes blocked her commscanner's signals as well as covering any sounds that the runner might make. However, she was able pick up a trail of blood leading away to her left.

Kim followed the blood trail until it stopped. A wall-mounted med kit had been smashed open. He must have taken the time to bandage his wound. She stopped for a moment and assessed things. Looking around, she holstered her gun, climbed up one set of pipes and then crawled along the top of the pipes running above the floor.

Reaching the next junction, Kim spotted Will working his way through the shadows coming from the other direction. He was trying to use his commscanner but it too was unable to work amidst all the noise. The city was in the process of installing repeater scanners that would operate in the pipe runways, but they had yet to complete this section. In disgust, Will stuffed his commscanner back on his belt and continued searching for the runner.

There was a movement in the shadows. It was the runner, stalking Will. Kim could see him, holding a large piece of pipe in his hand, ready to spring an ambush. Slowly, she pulled out her gun and took aim, waiting until the runner was ready to strike.

Will jumped at the sound of the DS gun along with the scream that followed. The blow intended for his head glanced off his shoulder instead, as the shot from Kim's gun shredded the runner's free hand. Simpering in fear, the runner desperately tried to back away from Will. As Will raised his gun to fire, there was another pop hiss. This time Kim's shot exploded the runner's knee in a mass of sparks and burnt flesh. He screamed as he crumpled over onto the ground. Will spun to see Kim leap to the floor from the pipe run above his head.

"Dang it, Kimberly! Give _me_ a chance to shoot!"

Ignoring him, Kim walked on past, removed a homer from her belt and inserted it into her gun. She stood mere feet from the bleeding runner when she started the charge. Once it had reached its peak, she took aim.

The runner rolled onto his back, his pleading eyes fixed on her as she squeezed the trigger. The homer sped to its target and struck the runner dead-center in the forehead.

Will looked on as the homer did exactly what it was designed to do. After the explosion, Kim walked up, knelt down and methodically searched the remains. Finding nothing, she stood, pulled her commscanner from her belt and reported in.

"This is Kimberly 5. Runner Davis 11 terminated: Subfloor 3, Section 11. William 2 assisted. Inform detail for cleanup."

Snapping the unit back on her belt and shoving her gun into its holster, Kim spun around to face Will.

"Okay, pay up," she demanded. "_One_, I saved that knobby little head of yours. _Two_, you had _plenty_ of time to shoot and you didn't, so _no complaints_."

Will thought about arguing Kim's second point, but he also knew she could have easily let the runner kill him. He pulled out his commscanner and punched a code into the keypad. A small plastic chip emerged from the side. Grabbing the chip, he tossed it to Kim.

"Okay, that should be enough to pay for your little party. You're learning, _amateur_. So, his cake is better than sex, huh? Maybe you can get something from his cake you'll never get anywhere _else_."

Will spun on his heel and walked away, leaving a fuming and still dripping wet Kim to stand there glaring at him. Had he turned back around, he would have sworn steam was rising from her head.

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Ronald 11 climbed out of the fountain and knocked the water from his ears. Several passersby pointed and laughed at him as he dripped water all over the floor. He sighed as he sat down on the fountain's rim. This was just his luck, living up to his reputation as the clown; the buffoon.

Everyone ridiculed him. He tried and tried, but he just was not good at many things. His looks didn't help, either. None of the girls ever even gave him a second glance. Now he had really done it. He had gotten in the way of Kimberly 5 while she chased a runner. That was not a good career or life choice. He doubted Kim would ever remember him, and, if she did, he doubted it would be a pleasant memory.

It had been years since they had been moved out of the automatic nursery and into the robotic schools. Kim was always playing with the smart and good-looking kids. There was one time, though, when all her friends pulled a very mean trick on her. She fell and scraped her knee. While her so-called friends walked away laughing, Ron raced over to see what he could do. Kim was trying not to cry while she held her knee. Ron helped her up and over to the medical unit.

Naturally, the robotic governess blamed Ron for what happened and he had to serve several units of detention. When Kim's friends found out she was in the med unit, they came over to her like nothing had ever happened. As he was being led off to detention, Ron saw Kim's eyes follow him as her friends pulled her away and up the hall. They never spoke of the event and he hardly had any more contact with her. Not that he ever stood a chance. She was pretty and he was just plain.

With a sigh, Ron stood and headed back to his unit. One thing he did know how to do was cook and that ability had turned into a fairly nice job working for one of the more popular Pleasure Circles. He would come in, cook and then serve a meal of his client's choice from a set menu. Along with cooking, he found that he could do a fairly good massage.

Over time Ron had built up quite a little business and was being hired for some of the more popular parties in the city. However, when the clothes started to come off --- as they often did --- he would leave. He figured he might as well, since none of the party goers ever even considered him. They would just slip him his payment and push him out the door.

Once inside his unit, Ron stripped off his wet clothes, showered and then put on a clean, dry outfit. While he was changing, Rufus popped up from his hiding place. Ron had first discovered the naked mole rat raiding the cheese bin where he worked. The poor little guy was sick and half-starved. Feeling sorry for him, Ron had stuffed Rufus in his pocket and took him back to his unit where he nursed the rodent back to health. Now the two were best friends. Truth was, Rufus was Ron's only true friend. He gave Rufus a piece of cheese he had brought home. Rufus grabbed it, sniffed, and then gave Ron a funny look. Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry, guy. I had a run-in with someone and fell in the fountain in the main courtyard. It's okay; just a little wet."

Rufus gave an "O.K." thumbs-up and quickly devoured the snack. Ron was getting ready to get something to eat when his communit from work beeped. He pulled it from his belt and glanced at the screen.

"Chocolate Desert Dinner ordered. No time limit. Unit 44, Level 5, Section 33."

Ron sighed as he went to the closet to retrieve his cart. The desert dinner meant that whoever placed the order wanted all desserts to be delivered. He loaded up several slices of his "Seven Layers of Pleasure" chocolate cake, a large bowl of "To Die For LastDay Chocolate", four chocolate tortes, and a large bowl of strawberries dipped in chocolate.

After loading everything onto his serving cart, Ron noticed the "No time limit" notation. This client was high enough on the social scale to be aware of his special massage skills. They either wanted one or had someone who wanted one.

Patting Rufus on the head, Ron pressed the front door button and pushed his cart outside.

"See you later, little guy. Don't wait up, okay?"

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Kim had taken a shower and towel-dried her hair. Putting on her favorite green whisper cloth gown, she ordered something she had wanted to do for a long time. Now that she had a nice little amount of credits courtesy of Will, she could afford it.

The service Kim called for was a well-kept secret among some of the Pleasure Circles. Rumor had it this person could create some of the finest food that anyone had ever tasted. Kim had checked the menu and, deciding to not be normal for a change, ordered her ultimate dining fantasy: a full meal of nothing but chocolate desserts.

A friend had told Kim to request the "No Time Limit" option. Another DS agent had raved about the man's fantastic massages. Yes, tonight she was going to splurge.

Not that Kim was seeking sex. No, that was not for her. True, it was always in the back of her mind that maybe someday she would find someone she could be comfortable with. However, deep down she knew it would never happen. Who could put up with her?

Hearing the door chime, Kim did a fast check-over in the hall reflector. Satisfied, she pressed the button to open the door.

"YOU!!!"

Acid dripped from her voice as she recognized the man standing in the doorway as the very same one who had earlier knocked her into the fountain.

Ron stammered for a few moments when he realized just who was his client.

"Uhhh… ha-ha-ha-hi… sa-sa-sa-sorry… ah-ah-ah-about… tah-tah-tah-today. Uhhh… you… ordered… the desert… dinner?"

Realizing that Ron was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him, Kim tried to gather herself together and calm down. Today had been an accident. It had just been her ego that had yet again gotten away from her. Also, there was something about his voice, his face; something vaguely familiar.

"Have we _met_ before?"

Ron smiled.

"Yeah, we have. It was a long time ago, back in robo school. Your friends pulled a pretty nasty trick on you. You got hurt and I took you to the med unit. I…."

"Ron?" Kim squealed. "_Oh my gosh_! Ron! Oh. What am I thinking? Come in!"

Ron pushed his cart on through the door into Kim's unit and turned around to face her as she closed the door behind them. There was an evil little smile on her face.

"So, my little hero from long ago is one special cook! A-n-d, a little something _else_, I hear."

Ron's mind jumped out of gear as Kim walked past him into the living room and took a seat. He could not help noticing the emerald green whisper cloth short gown she was wearing. The cloth was extremely sheer; sheer enough to reveal the strap holding the outfit on, which passed across her front and around her back, with the back of the gown flowing down freely to just above mid-calf. He also could not help noticing she had nothing on underneath.

Ron swallowed hard and started to rub the back of his neck.

"Well, I uhhh…."

Kim motioned for him to wheel his cart over.

"Well, let's see what you have in that cart. I want to see if the rumors are true; _all_ the rumors."

Kim could not believe she was acting this way. She had never done anything like this before, but her heart told her that this person from her past --- this person who had treated her with such kindness --- would be someone she could trust, and maybe something else.

Ron was struggling to get his brain back in gear. He had to get control of himself so he could do his job; all of it. The first part, serving the meal, would be easy. But as for the second part, that would take some willpower. He sighed and regained control of his mind.

"Okay. Let's start with the 'Seven Layers of Pleasure' chocolate cake."

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Ron pushed his cart out of the door to Kim's unit.

Kim sighed as she watched him go.

The desert dinner was some of the most wonderful food she had ever eaten. Yes, his chocolate cake was better than sex, not that she knew from actual experience. Her one dive into a relationship had been terminated before they went that far.

Kim and Ron had talked about what had happened over the years. Maybe it was his weird sense of humor. More likely, it was the massage that came later, after she had changed. Whatever it was, she found him captivating.

It didn't take long for Kim to realize her gown was a little too revealing and distracting, so she changed into a green tank top and a pair of sweat pants. Ron's hands traveled over her body with a grace that she did not believe was possible. Everywhere he touched seemed to bring both pleasure and relaxation. She had to struggle to stay awake, she was so relaxed. But in this grace, he was also careful not to touch her in several places. This pleasantly amused her. All she had ever heard was that most men went for those places first.

Closing the unit's front door, Kim walked across the living room, sat down at her computer and called up her budget. She changed some expenses and transferred some funds. If he could make desserts like that, she wanted to find out what else he could cook. She entered an order for another meal and extended time with his employer. Kim twirled a strand of wayward hair as she thought of another evening with the goofy-looking cook. She giggled to herself as she headed for her bedroom.

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Ron could barely push his cart straight. What had happened back there? He pulled out the credit slip she had handed him as he left. His eyes grew wide when he saw the tip. It was four times what he was normally given. Kim had clearly loved the desserts as he presented them. Later, when he gave her the massage, he was very careful. He didn't want to be forward with her. This woman was feared by all runners, and not someone to be trifled with. Still, she seemed to be someone who liked to laugh, talk and laugh again.

He turned the credit slip over to find a note scribbled on the back:

"Thanks for all you did,  
Until later, and there **will** be a later

Kimberly 5."

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I do hope that you have enjoyed this first chapter of Kimberly's Run. Those who are familiar with the book and/or the movie will see similarities from both. The story is just getting started.

Please leave a review. I would appreciate it. I will reply ASAP.

Thanks

The Captain


	3. Chapter 2 Meetings

**Kimberly's Run  
Chapter Two  
By Captainkodak1**

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Kim walked from the electric car into the shopping plaza. It was her off-duty day and she planned to have a good time with her good friend, Monique 9. First some time shopping and then lunch in the food area. She also wanted to get some advice for a new outfit for later that week. She had worked some extra hours in order to hire Ron again. This time, she ordered a full dinner.

Since their first meeting, Kim had hired Ron so many times the Queen's Pleasure Palace was now giving her a volume discount. For this next night, Kim planned a little surprise for a friend. She had ordered a special dinner for two.

Stepping into the store where Monique worked, Kim spied the dark-skinned shop clerk helping two young female customers. Kim made her way further inside until she caught Monique's attention and the two exchanged waves.

Kim and Monique had been friends since they moved from the roboschool. Monique had a knack for style and fashion, so she decided to work for one of the clothing stores. Over time, her reputation grew, until now some of her designs were the hottest things in the city and elsewhere. Kim had tried a on a few herself but could not quite get herself to wear some of the more popular designs.

Kim strolled through the racks of clothes, pushing the hangers back and forth, glancing at one outfit after another as she waited for Monique to finish with her customers. Pulling one outfit from the rack she held it up to herself. She smiled until she checked the price tag. Scowling she put the outfit back on the rack and continued to dream.

"So, how's my best girl?"

Kim looked up and smiled at her friend.

"Pretty good, Monique. I need your advice. I want to get something for someone. I don't want to go overboard, but I want this guy to know I like him."

"This guy? Have you been holding out on me? JWDTH?"

Kim stared back at her friend, who had a habit of speaking in acronyms almost as often as words.

"Girl! Just when did _this_ happen?"

Kim blushed a bit as she turned her attention to a rack of clothes.

"Oh, it's nothing special. Just a guy."

Monique crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow.

"Is this the same girl _I_ know? This same girl who has scared off one too many hot pieces of meat? I mean, Joshua 11. Or how about Erik 4?"

Kim started to speak when Monique held up her hand.

"Nope. Not now. It's time for my break and to get something to eat. It'll be my treat but you have to _spill_. Get the drift girl?"

Monique grabbed Kim's arm and they headed for the shopping area's food court.

William 2 walked by, barely acknowledging Kim. A small group of children ran by, their palm flowers shining blue. They ran around Will, chanting:

"Sandman, Sandman  
Leave my door.  
Don't come back  
Any more.  
Sandman, Sandman,  
I will not stray,  
Sandman, Sandman  
Stay away."

Kim noticed a man about her age walking up the concourse toward her. He was dressed in a work tunic. Around his neck hung a sign:

"RUN!"

The man was handing out flyers printed on a special paper that shone in different colors.

Kim took one and read it:

"RUN! REJECT SLEEP! RUN!"

"THERE WILL NOT BE ENOUGH SANDMEN,"

"THERE WILL NOT BE ENOUGH HOMERS,"

"IF ENOUGH PEOPLE RUN!"

People of old lived long and happy lives, some up to 80 years old.

Why should we die at 24?

Just because The Thinker says you should.

Who controls your life?

YOU or a COMPUTER!

RUN! REJECT SLEEP and RUN!"

Kim glanced to the side to see Will talking into his commscanner. Soon a police paravane landed nearby. Two officers stepped off in their silver bodysuits. They strode over to the man, grabbed him by arms and lead him to the paravane. A group of youths screamed at the man.

"Coward!"

"Scum!"

Kim just turned and pulled Monique along with her.

"Come on. I don't feel like dealing with this on my one day off."

At one of their favorite places, Kim ordered a salad and a strawberry smoothie while Monique got a grilled sandwich along with a strawberry smoothie. The two girls took their food and found a booth in a secluded area of the food court. Kim had barely taken her seat when Monique leaned over.

"Okay, _spill_. Who's got that smile on your face? I want to know what hottie has finally melted that wall of ice that you built around you. I mean they don't call you Ice…."

Monique quickly shut her mouth as Kim glared at her, clearly upset.

"Sorry. I... I… I'm going to shut up now. So tell me what kind of man has finally made her way into your life and maybe your heart."

Monique's face broke into a grin when Kim's face turned a slight pink.

"Oh. My. Goodness. You're crushing! _Kimberly 7 is crushing_!"

Kim reached over and punched Monique lightly in the shoulder as she giggled.

"Monique, stop! Okay! But you can't tell anyone."

Kim sat back and began playing with her salad.

"I met him through the Queen's Pleasure Palace."

Monique's eyes went wide at the mention of the most exclusive pleasure palace in the city.

"You mean you…."

Kim's face turned red as her hair.

"No, Monique! I used that new chef's service. He came over and served me the best desserts I've ever had. He was s-o-o-o sweet, and his hands…"

Kim sighed as she continued playing with her salad, thinking of Ron. Monique sat back with her arms crossed, staring at Kim. After a few moments Kim realized she had zoned out right in front of Monique. She looked up to see Monique regarding her with twinkling eyes and a smirk on her face.

"O-o-o-h-h, girl. You've got it b-a-a-a-d."

Kim groaned as she laid back her head.

"I so don't know what's going on, Monique. It's just not the service he provides. I mean, he is awesomely good at what he does. But just to talk to him --- the way he talks and acts --- he just gets me to relax. And _believe me_, when those hands start walking, my body starts talking, and…"

Kim clamped her hand over her mouth as her face rapidly turned red.

Monique's jaw just about dropped onto the top of the table. She was about to speak where there was a chime sounding throughout the shopping center. They turned to the central plaza, where a twenty foot tall holographic image of the city's popular newscaster was forming.

"Greetings, citizens! It is I, Walter 10, with the news."

"There was a large disturbance near the Cathedral last night. A group of cubs attacked two of our DS agents. The agents were able to protect themselves, killing several cubs in the process. The agents were in the area due to a report that a runner had been seen in the area. Authorities are investigating the runner report to see if it was genuine or a hoax to lure the DS agents into the area."

"The Thinker reports that living conditions have improved in the river area thanks to the work of the Citizens for the River. Police are searching for the criminal Shego 4. She is wanted for several assaults and robberies. Authorities in New Denver are asking for help in the disappearance of several monkeys from their public zoo. Other cities have reported the loss of several of their animals."

"Three runners were stopped by William 2 yesterday, and Kimberly 5 set a new monthly record of twenty kills with a week still to go in the month. Let's applaud their wonderful work in keeping our society safe from the discontent of those who don't understand their duty."

"And that's the way it is. This is Walter 10, signing off. Peace to you all."

Kim turned back to her salad and continued to eat in silence.

Monique sat across from her friend, watching in wonder. It was difficult to believe that the beautiful, petite girl in front of her was one of the most ruthless and efficient Sandmen in the city. Tales of Kim's exploits could be heard all over the city. Some parents even used her name in bedtime stories to show their children a true hero who saves their world on a daily basis. There was even a bedtime story disc that featured Kim chasing down Ballard, the boss of all the runners. Ballard was the boogey man of their times. Parents told children the Ballard would get them unless they behaved.

Kim finished off her salad and slid the serving tray into the disposal unit. Monique did the same. Kim turned to head back to the store when a voice called out.

"Kim!"

Turning to the sound of her name, Kim saw Ron approaching with a tray pile high with food that he had just purchased from another vendor. The tray was laden with a dish that Bueno Nacho considered to be their signature item. Kim considered the dish to be one of the most disgusting mixtures of food she had ever seen, smelled or watched someone else eat.

Ron set down his tray and walked up to Kim.

"It's good to see you. I saw on the order board that…"

Jonathon 10's image shifted again as he began to speak.

"Citizens! Friends! I would like to give our sponsor time to tell you about one of their popular dishes."

The image shifted and "the Crazed Nacho Bandit" materialized.

"Greetings, my compadres! The Bandit just wanted to tell you about our Naco: the most d-e-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s item on our menu. It was developed by one of our top chefs at the Queen's Pleasure Palace. Part taco, part nacho, it's d-e-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! So come on and have one! Yeeehhhhaaahhh"

The image of the Bandit transformed into that of a grande size Nacho. The image pulled back to reveal an image of Ron eating the dish with gusto.

Kim's jaw nearly dropped to her chest as she stared at the disappearing image and back at Ron.

Ron chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hehe. Yeah, they asked me to be in the commercial. The Palace owns part of BN, plus BN wanted to thank me for coming up with the Naco."

Kim's eyes grew wide. She pointed to the image then back at Ron.

"You came up with that? You're a chef and you came up with that…that…"

Kim's finger was shaking.

Ron reached out, took her finger in his hand and just shook it back and forth.

"Hey, I do have mad cooking and food skills."

Monique sat back and watched Kim's reaction. There was no way this could be it. There was no _way_ this guy was the one Kim was crushing on. He was so…so…_plain_.

However Kim's reaction gave her the answer. She raised her hand and covered his hand with hers. Her cheeks blushed a bit.

"That's not _all_ you are skilled at."

Kim turned to Monique.

"Ron, this is one of my best friends, Monique 9. Monique, this is Ronald 7."

Monique smiled and shook Ron's hand.

"It's nice to meet Kim's new friend."

"STOP! RUNNER!"

A slightly built woman burst through the crowd, with William 2 and Oscar 11 running after her, guns drawn. Dodging past two other diners, she grabbed Ron's tray and hurled it full into Kim's face as she tried to block the way. Ron tried to help but tripped over the tray as it crashed to the floor and ended up landing on top of Kim. The woman ran into a waste receptacle and fell to the floor.

Oscar halted and clipped a tangler charge to the barrel of his pistol.

"Clear away!"

Patrons in the area dove out of the way as the woman struggled to gain her footing. Oscar waited for a clear line of sight and then fired, the tangler net enveloping the runner and knocking her to the floor. The woman screamed and thrashed about as the net continued to shrink until she could barely move.

Will loaded a homer, aimed and fired. The shrieking wail abruptly changed to a gurgle as the homer did its work.

The other patrons got to their feet, gathered up their belongings and went on about their business, eating and shopping.

Will pulled his commscan out.

"William 2. Oscar 11. Runner Mary 12 terminated. Food court. Level 3, Section 12. Standard cleanup."

Will headed back into the shopping area and passed by Kim. She was just sitting up, covered with Nacos from her nose to her knees.

"Gee, Kimberly. I'd heard you were really getting into your food but this is ridiculous."

Kim growled as she stood up and surveyed her now-ruined outfit. Ron got a napkin and tried to clean her up. She snatched it away from him.

"Just leave it alone! You'll only make it worse!"

Ron stepped back.

"Kim, I _am_ sorry. Please, just…"

Kim snapped back at him.

"Just leave me alone! Just…just…LEAVE!"

Ron nodded, slowly turned and walked away. Monique watched as he disappeared into the crowd. She turned back to face Kim, who was still looking down at her clothes.

"Uhh… Kim? You okay?"

Kim threw the napkins to the floor.

"NO! I AM _NOT_ OKAY! MY OUTFIT IS RUINED, I AM PROBABLY THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE DS… AND… and…"

Monique crossed her arms and glared at Kim.

"Ron didn't do anything but try and _help_ and you handed him his head. He tried to keep you from getting run down."

Kim glared back at Monique for a moment, and then her face fell.

"What have I _done_, Monique?"

Monique shook her head.

"You just lived up to your reputation of being a great DS agent, but as a girl your attitude and pride just plain suck."

Monique picked up her purse.

"I've got to get back to work. I'll see you later. By the way, if you don't mind --- not that it matters if you do --- I think I'll give that Ron a call. He seems to be worth knowing, although you don't seem to care."

Monique marched away, leaving Kim standing there, alone, with mashed up Nacos dripping from her clothes..

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Ron slowly made his way back to his apartment. His luck was true to form. Just when he finds someone interesting, something comes along and screws up everything.

To top it all off, he was still hungry.

Going straight to his food prep area, Ron made himself a sandwich and then sat down at his terminal and pulled up the Club Banana site. A quick search located a replacement for the outfit that matched the one that had been ruined. Punching the order button, he had the outfit held at the store.

The replacement outfit ordered, Ron stood up and walked back into the kitchen. It was time to bake something very special.

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Kim approached the door to her unit. She had walked around for a couple of hours, eventually wandering up to the edge of the city. Here she sat on a bench and looked out over the landscape. She really was living up to her reputation being a hard case. Here she had finally found someone she was genuinely comfortable with, and what did she do? She might as well have shot a homer into his heart.

She stood and headed back to her unit wiping a track of tears from her face. Reaching her unit door, she noticed two stacked packages sitting in front of her door. There was a card on top.

Her mouth watered as she opened the top box. Inside were three full slices of Ron's Seven Layers of Pleasure chocolate cake. Opening the next box, Kim found inside a new outfit, identical to the one she was wearing.

Kim opened the card:

'Dear Kim,

I know we haven't known each other for long, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened today. Please accept these items as a small apology. I really liked being with you. You were the one client I looked forward to seeing. I didn't mind spending extra time with you because you were really special to me. Maybe things could have worked out differently. If you want, I can give you references to someone else who would be glad to have you as a client.

Ron.'

Kim held the card to her chest for a moment, picked up the items and entered her unit. She placed the gifts on the table and went to her bedroom. The ruined outfit slipped to the floor as she reached into her closet and pulled out another. Kim laid it on her bed then headed for her bathroom.

A slight smile crossed her face as she started the shower, climbed in and popped the top of her strawberry shampoo.

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Water dripped from the last pan as Ron placed it in the drainer. He didn't like using the dishwasher for his cooking equipment, preferring to wash everything by hand. Rufus sat watching from his perch above the refrigerator. Rufus knew something had happened to his best friend, but nothing he did seemed to cheer him up.

Ron turned off the kitchen light and went over to his terminal to look up his schedule for the next few nights. Seeing Kim's order, he used his override to transfer the order to another one of the chefs. He was about to start a computer game when the doorbell rang.

Walking to the door, Ron checked the monitor to see who was standing outside his door. It was Kim. Ron opened the door to find her standing there wearing a short overcoat. She faced him with her arms wrapped around her front. She bowed her head and raised one hand to pull her hair back from her face and tuck it behind one beautiful ear.

"Ron, I imagine you really don't want to see me, but I wanted to say that you have nothing to apologize for. It… it should be _me_ who's apologizing to you. I wanted to come over to say that I am sorry for what I did today."

Kim bit her lip for a moment as she stared up into Ron's face.

"Can…Can I come in?"

Ron stepped back and nodded.

"Uh, _sure_."

Kim entered Ron's unit and looked around. Clothes were thrown everywhere and the table in front of the television was littered with numerous fast food bags. Ron darted back and forth, picking up clothes and throwing trash into the trash bin.

"Have a seat. Would you like something to eat or drink?"

Kim shook her head and stepped over to Ron.

"No thank you, but I have something to give you."

Kim undid the sash to the overcoat and let it slip from her shoulders.

Ron's brain went into shutdown. There stood Kim, wearing a new green whispercloth short gown. There were reflective threads woven into the fabric of the outfit that made is shimmer in the light. As she moved in closer, wrapping her arms around his neck, Ron looked down. He immediately wished he hadn't.

Kim didn't have anything on under the gown. The gown was very sheer, but the sight he got was more than enough. Kim pulled his head down and gently pressed her lips to his. Her right leg lifted up and curled around the back of his leg. She began to purr and moan as she pressed herself to him.

Pulling back, Ron held her at arms length.

"Whoa there, Kim! Take it easy!"

Kim's .face broke as her amorous expression changed to a "puppy dog" pout.

"You…you don't _want_ me?"

Ron tried to say something but before he could Kim dropped her arms and turned away. Tears began to flow down her face and a slight sob came from her throat. She threw her hands up in the air.

"I am so stupid. What else can I mess up today?"

Ron gently took Kim by the arm and turned her around. He placed his hand under her chin and lifted it up to look into her tear streaked face.

"Yes, I _do_ want you, Kim. But this is not the Kim I know. Why are you acting like this?"

Kim's face broke into a small smile.

"I thought this is what you _wanted_."

Ron shook his head.

"No, I want the Kim who likes chocolate cake and likes to talk about nothing. I want the Kim who laughs at my bad jokes. I want the Kim who lets me make her feel better."

Kim sighed as she pulled herself back into his chest.

"Oh, God! I'm sorry. I am s-o-o-o messing things up."

Ron put his arms around her and gave her a slight hug.

"Tell you what: let's try this again. Since I doubt you have anything else with you to wear how about this?"

Ron reached over and picked up a red and black hockey style shirt lying on top of a stack of clean clothes.

"Why don't you go put this on, and I'll fix us a little snack. Then we'll see what we can do."

Kim smiled as she grabbed the shirt and went into the bathroom.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kim came back into the living room and saw that Ron had turned the lights down and lit several candles. Two slices of cake sat on the table. She noticed that Ron had combed his hair as best he could and cleaned up a little.

Ron extended his hand and led her over to the couch. He helped her to a seat on the couch and then sat beside her. The shirt she had on was slightly large and one cream colored shoulder poked out. Ron placed his arm around her shoulder. She nestled down and found out that her head fit perfectly into the spot on his shoulder.

"Do you mind?"

Ron shook his head.

"Not at all. Actually, it's kinda nice."

Kim sighed and relaxed. Ron was right. It was nice. It was better than nice. It was wonderful. She had been ready to give Ron her body and everything else. Somehow, though, this was so much better. Ron cut a bite-sized piece of cake with his fork and offered it to Kim. She took a bite and sighed again. This was going to be a great evening.

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I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. There is plenty action, romance, angst and everything else coming. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.

This is the Captain  
Over and Out  
Right hand salute.


	4. Chapter 3 Cubs

**Kimberly's Run  
Chapter Three  
By Captainkodak1  
**

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Kim rolled over in her bed with a purr. The evening before with Ron had been wonderful. Her sides still hurt from all the laughing. At one point during the night she had laughed so hard she had to make a quick trip to his bathroom before she wet herself.

Ron completely surprised her. She thought few if any men in the city would have turned her down if she had thrown herself at them as she had Ron. Everywhere she went, whether in uniform or street clothes, she constantly turned men's heads. She saw the looks. She knew she had what men liked and she knew she had it. She caught their looks out of the corner of her eye. Incredibly, Ron, looking her straight in the eye, then down her gown, had turned her down flat. Then, in his own bumbling, charming way, he gave her an evening she'd never forget. The night seemed so special.

She stretched out under her covers as the evening replayed itself in her mind --- no, it _was_ more than special. But, all they did was play 3-D games, watch television and talk. Not exactly the sort of evening she had originally planned or even dreamed that she would enjoy. Although she found herself nestled in his arms, she noticed that he was very careful where he put his hands.

Ron had a strange yet wonderful sense of humor. Somehow, he knew exactly when to say the right thing. They discussed which shows they'd like to watch, but, in the end he ceded to her wishes and they watched most of her favorites.

She felt so comfortable with him, so completely relaxed around him, that later in the evening she found herself nestled up against him, his arm around her. It felt so good; so right. Somehow, she a DS agent felt strangely safe. Here is a place she could be truly free to be herself, and not be judged for it.

The alarm on Kim's nightstand went off, startling her with its insistent beeping. She slammed a fist on top of it to silence it. Lying there for a moment, her thoughts drifted back to the previous evening. The alarm went off again. Groaning, she rolled off the bed, turned off the alarm and headed for her bath to take a shower.

It was first shift for Kim today. That meant her evening would be free. Thoughts of another evening with Ron brought a smile to her face as the hot water cascaded down on her. She slowly moved her hands up and down her flanks, imagining that it was Ron touching her, even those places he had yet to touch.

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The concourse was busy as Kim stepped up to the electric car to ride to work. Passing by the statue of Blair Sterns in the main plaza, she recalled the history class that was mandatory for all.

Sterns was the creator of their world. He was there when "The War for Youth" began.

It all started with a protest against the possible enactment of the Fortieth Amendment to the Constitution. Everyone under the age of thirty knew The Compulsory Birth Control Laws would be nearly impossible to enforce, but that didn't stop most of the nations of the world from attempting to enact them.

The world leaders pleaded with their fellow countrymen that this was the only way to halt overpopulation. The population of the world was skyrocketing. Cities were overcrowded. Urban sprawl was gobbling up precious farmland. Food production had reached its maximum output and water resources were becoming a problem. The problems of waste disposal grew daily. People were starving to death around the world.

Many young people were upset over the Laws, calling them an infringement upon their natural rights. The President delivered a speech over the major networks, calling for peace and sacrifice from all the citizens. He spoke primarily to the younger generations as they would be bearing the brunt of the new laws. Unwittingly, or because he and his aides were completely out of touch with the situation, the speech sent the worst possible message.

Seeing the rotund man on television, calling for personal restraint while he himself had seven children, caused more harm than good. His administration was notorious for its lavish parties, where huge buffets were commonplace, while people on the street were going hungry, having to spend most of their wages to simply get the basics in food. That was when the food was available.

The President was not alone in sending the wrong message. Several other world leaders attempted to speak to their people. Yet all of them were well fed with large families, so their pleas for restraint fell not only on deaf ears but hardened hearts. Resentment was growing into hate.

Randy Lee Jenkins was a seventeen year old teen from Missouri. He along with thousands of other youth from across the country had gathered in Washington D.C. to protest the law. It was the evening of May 2, 2020, Jackson was headed toward the Mall, yelling for everyone to join him in marching on the White House and the Capital, when William "Bill" Anderson, an overweight, slightly drunk, forty-five year old father of four, snarled down at him from behind the steering wheel of his car.

"Hey! Kid! Why don't you brats give us a break? March your spoiled asses on home and go to bed!"

The wrong words at the wrong time and in the wrong place. The War started on that very corner.

Within hours, a large portion of downtown D.C. was ablaze. The President attempted to flee as the Army deployed into the streets. However, it quickly became apparent that the unit commanders were only in control of the mostly older soldiers. The Army's ranks were largely filled with troops approximately the same age of the protestors, and soon thousands of soldiers deserted to join the demonstrators, taking their weapons with them.

The President attempted to flee via Marine One but did not get far. Several former soldiers armed with shoulder-launched surface to air missiles anticipated his move and surrounded the perimeter of the helipad, waiting for him. His helicopter was literally blown to bits seconds after takeoff.

Everywhere in the city, government leaders were pulled from their homes. The lucky ones were shot quickly. Others were hung from streetlamps, trees or anything else tall enough to dangle a noose from. The very unlucky ones were dragged into the streets, doused with gasoline and set on fire.

The revolt rapidly spread across the nation. State and local leaders fled for their lives; those that didn't, died. Some tried to reason with the crowds, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. The body count grew with each hour.

Soon the entire globe was caught up in the revolution. As in America, national and local leaders were hunted down and slaughtered. Many were to die slowly and painfully.

Within months the world was young. The reins of power were in the hands of the youth, and they set about making certain that the older generation would never again be able to control their lives.

Over the next several months, the youth of the world discussed, argued and fought over the best way to solve their problems. Out of the chaos came a voice. Blair Sterns, a sixteen year old young man from Omaha, Nebraska, came forward with the idea of sleep and the Thinker. He spoke to crowds all over the world. Wherever he went, he was able to speak the language. Crowds of the young were mesmerized by his words.

Within two years, the Thinker was constructed and allowed to control everything. The nurseries were computerized. Life was easy; there were plenty of food now. Pleasure was the goal of all.

Blair was among the first to embrace sleep at the age of twenty-four. The giant sleep shops were set up and the first groups of DS units were formed.

Kim stared down at her red palmflower. Red was the color of an adult. Newborns to five years old had clear flowers. Children, ages six to eleven years old, had blue flowers. Green was the color of those who were twelve to seventeen years old. These were the teen years, where one learned a trade and prepared to take over from those who embraced sleep.

At the age of eighteen, the palmflower turned red and stayed red until one month before one turned twenty-four and then one's flower started to flash red and black. The flashing was slow at first and then faster as the age of twenty-four approached. When one became twenty-four, the flower turned black. Those who did not report for sleep by then would be hunted down by the DS units.

Kim stood to get off the car and approached the automatic door. She waited for the door to open, but it never did. It just sat there humming, until finally there was a flash of sparks and the smell of burnt wiring. A computer voice came from the speaker above the door.

"Please use another exit. The car will wait an extra thirty seconds for you to exit."

Kim turned and stepped out of the next door. Just as the car started to roll again, the door she had been waiting at finally opened. Alarms went off and the electric car jerked to a stop. Kim shook her head. Maybe the Thinker woke up on the wrong side of the motherboard this morning.

The precinct headquarters for her DS unit was a short but formable looking building. She started up the steps when she saw Blake 6 coming toward her. His uniform was nearly shredded. One arm was covered in medi-foam and his face had a number of medi-pads on it. He feigned a smile as he saw her coming toward him. She looked him up and down.

"What the hell happened to _you_?"

Blake grimaced.

"It was the _cubs_. They set a trap for David 10 and me. We were tracking a couple of runners working in tandem. They headed for the Cathedral. Then they disappeared off the scanners. We figured later that the cubs had gotten them and were waiting for us. We were checking what was left of the bodies when they attacked. They were all on Muscle. We were lucky to get out alive. If we hadn't been carrying extra nitro and ripper rounds we wouldn't have been _able_ to get out. I have no idea how many we killed. We just blasted our way out. William 2's waiting for you. The commander wanted the two of you to patrol around the Cathedral for today."

Kim rolled her eyes.

"Oh, joy. He's hard enough to deal with on a normal day. Now I'll have to think about who I might want to shoot first: Will, or the cubs."

Blake smiled, patting Kim on the shoulder as he walked on.

"Awww. He's just _jealous_. You're getting to be the best DS agent in years. You're a _natural_."

Kim grinned as he passed.

"I'll remember that when my performance review comes up and he has to write it."

She turned and headed up the steps of DS headquarters. The sliding doors opened as she approached. Just as she entered, the doors started to shut. Kim had to move quickly before she got caught in them. She turned around and stared at them as they slammed shut behind her. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked across the foyer, waving at Tara 10 sitting at the reception desk.

"Hey, Tara. What's the deal with the doors?"

Tara smiled as she sat back from in front of her videophone.

"I don't know. They started to act up this morning. I guess the Thinker is too busy elsewhere to send a repair crew. I hear you got the rough duty today."

Kim groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Don't remind me."

Tara batted her eyelashes at Kim then grinned.

"That's not _all_ I hear. It seems that a certain female DS agent has been seen with a _very_ special member of the Pleasure Palaces staff. He even made a special _cake_ just for her and had it delivered to her apartment. I _also_ hear she spent a lot of time at his apartment."

Kim's face rapidly turned the shade of her hair.

"Just… just how did you…?"

Tara leaned forward.

"Don't worry, Kim. I was just playing you. Monique and I went shopping the other night and had dinner. She seemed to be hiding something, so I slipped her a drink. She spilled all."

Kim put her hands on Tara's desk and whispered to Tara.

"Tell Monique that unless she wants me hunting _her_ that she'd best keep certain things quiet."

Tara giggled.

"Oh, don't worry. When she figured out what I did, she wasn't happy. Anyways, I know _all about_ Ronald. _I've_ even used his services on occasion. I must say that he _is_ cute. Maybe I can give you a run for your money."

Kim laughed shaking her head.

"_No way_, girl. He's _all mine_, so _hands off_."

"Eyes are okay, though," Kim added, patting Tara on the head as she turned and walked over to the crew door. As she approached, a voice came out of the speaker above the door.

"Identify."

Kim placed her hand on the pad next to the door.

The light over the door turned green.

"Identified. Kimberly 5."

The door slid open and she walked into the headquarters section. She walked up to the main duty desk and placed her palm down on the sign-in plate. A screen in front of her came to life.

"Kimberly 5, on duty. Special assignment: Cathedral."

Kim sighed.

"W-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l…"

"Kimberly, let's move!"

Kim spun around to see William 2 standing up the hall.

"We need to get armed. We're cleared to carry extra munitions. I suggest several Nitro rounds, a few blister rounds, and a few ripper rounds. We'll carry the standard tangler, vapor and homer loads."

Kim nodded and pulled a load belt from its hanger. Then she stepped over to the armory and picked up the rounds she would need to carry for the day. Will stood beside her and did the same. When they were finished, they walked down the short armory hallway to the gun wall. A glowing electric eye regarded Will for a moment and then a voice spoke:

"Identify."

Kim placed her palmflower on the eye of the pedestal in front of her. Will did the same on the pedestal next to her.

A door slid back to reveal a number of pistols hanging on their racks. Two had green lights glowing over them. Kim pulled her pistol from its rack and shoved it into her holster. Will pulled his pistol free of its mounting, checked it, and then placed it in his holster. Both of them stepped back from the pedestal and turned to walk back up the hallway. The voice came over the speaker again.

"Identify."

Will rolled his eyes and kicked one of the pedestals. The electric eye blinked and the door to the guns slid closed.

"Guns accepted. William 2. Kimberly 5. Be careful out there. Be careful out there. Be careful out there."

Will kicked the pedestal again. The light over the door panel blinked again.

"Be careful out there. Have a nice day."

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Kim and Will walked down the concourse near Cathedral. Few people ventured into this part of the city. Never completely rebuilt after the war, this section soon fell into disrepair. The area was named for a large building where it was said that people used to gather together to do something called worship. No one really knew or remembered what went on there.

Cubs --- runaway kids who lived by their wits or brute strength --- controlled the Cathedral section. DS agents did not take the cubs likely. The year before, a full squad of heavily-armed DS men went in to try and clean up that part of the city. Somehow the cubs found out they were coming. Twelve DS agents went in. None came out. Kim had been seeing one of them: Walter 6. Kim held a personal grudge against the cubs after that. Maybe that was one reason they sent her on this mission.

Kim and Will stayed several feet from each other in case the cubs tried leaving the Cathedral area and attacked. They had not gone far when their commscanners went off.

"Kimberly 5. William 2. Runner, Dalton 3, headed your way."

Kim pulled her commscan from her belt and put it to her mouth.

"Acknowledged. Send ID data."

Both commscanners beeped and a picture of the runner appeared on their screens. The man was tall, at least six-two, with dark brown hair.

Will spoke into his commscanner.

"Give us the track."

Kim looked at her scanner and the screen displayed a map of the area with a red glowing dot indicating the position of the runner. The two green dots were the two DS agents.

Will turned to Kim.

"First kill pays the bill."

Kim pulled her gun from its holster.

"You're on."

Kim took one hallway. Will took the other. She watched her scanner, following the runner's trace. His signal began to fade in and out. Kim swore. The runner knew areas where the scanners could not trace him well. They would have to do this old style, by pure instinct. She moved into a darker section of the concourses. Mainly used for storage, few ever ventured down here now unless it was absolutely necessary.. Kim settled into a dark alcove to wait and listen. Pulling her commscan out she scanned for the runner and Will. A scrambling sound above her caught here attention as a metal spear arrowed down beside her, smashing her commscan from her hand. She jumped out of the alcove as several spears of metal slammed to the floor where she had been standing. She heard children giggling and laughing.

"Sandman, Sandman  
Leave my door.  
Don't come back  
Any more.  
Sandman, Sandman  
If you stay  
A Sandman, Sandman  
We will slay."

'Great,' she thought. 'Cubs. Just what I need.'

The remains of her commscan lay on the floor, smoking and spitting sparks.

Moving out up the concourse, Kim heard a shout and broke into a run. She saw the runner in the distance running for the bridge in the distance. She hesitated for a second then turned to check on William 2.

As she turned a corner, Kim spotted Will leaning against a pillar, rubbing his shoulder.

"Damn scanners not worth _anything_ down here. He got the jump on me and headed toward Cathedral."

Kim looked around.

"Well, right now we have our _own_ problems. The cubs are out and are probably tracking all three of us. If he thinks he's going to make a break over the bridge he's in for a nasty surprise."

Will stood and moved ahead.

"Let's get him before they do. It wouldn't look good for them to get him and not us."

Running down the corridor, the two DS agents broke out of the section just at the bridge. They stopped to see the runner already crossing. Kim's sixth sense told her to jump. She pushed Will one direction and leapt aside the other way. A split-second later a large piece of concrete smashed to the floor where they had been standing.

Will stood and looked across the bridge as the runner broke into the open. Kim raised her gun to fire when she saw the flickering shapes.

Will shook his head. Placing his hand on her gun, he pushed it down.

"Save your round. The cubs have him. They have Muscle."

Kim cursed under her breath at the idiot scientists who invented "Muscle." An aerosol drug breathed in from a pad that was originally developed for the Army to give its soldiers super strength and speed. It also sped up reaction time. However, all of this came at a price. The heart and lungs did a week's worth of work in just minutes. The body aged quickly on Muscle. Only the young could use it.

Dalton was knocked to the ground from a fist of a ten year old boy. The blow struck him like sledgehammer. Small knives flashed about him, taking slices out of every portion of his body. Bones snapped from repeated blows. The cubs were playing with the runner, taking him apart piece by piece.

The fleeting shapes continued to move around Dalton as he lay on the ground. Kim and Will nodded to each other and loaded nitro rounds. They fired simultaneously, the twin explosions shredding a number of the cubs while the rest retreated.

Will and Kim walked across the bridge and cautiously approached the body of the runner. Blood oozed out over the cobblestone pavement. Will motioned for Kim to move forward.

"You do the body check. I'll cover you. Put a ripper in and don't hesitate to use it."

Kim nodded and loaded the ripper round on her gun. Slowly approaching the runner's body, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. In one sweeping motion she turned and fired. The ripper round lived up to its name and three more cubs were turned to bloody pulp by the round.

Loading another ripper, Kim knelt down beside the body. He was still alive. She quickly checked his pockets. They were empty. Prying open his hands, she found a small metal object in his right hand. Suddenly he grabbed her with his left hand and groaned.

"Sanctuary…"

Releasing his grasp, the runner's head fell back and he gasped his last breath.

Kim stepped back a few feet and exchanged the ripper round for a blister shot. She fired the blister shot into the body and watched as the acid melted the body to a liquid mush. She replaced the ripper round and retreated to where Will stood on the bridge. Together they backtracked over the bridge and up the hallway. Turning, they strode quickly from the area with the ripper rounds still on their guns. When they reached the main concourse, Will leaned against a post and tossed Kim his commscan.

"Report in while I take care of my shoulder."

Kim took Will's commscan and reported in.

"Kimberly 5. William 2. Runner Dalton 3 killed by cubs. William 2 slightly injured. Approximately ten cubs killed. Kimberly 5 out."

Kim called up the statistics on Dalton to see if there was anyone she might need to interview. Dalton's record came up on the screen.

Dalton 3

- Born in State Nursery 25.  
- Moved to State School 25 at age six. Education standard.  
- Discipline problems with authority.  
- Sent to Trade School. Expert in electronics with certification in computer and electronic programming and repair.  
- Joined City Maintenance Staff at age 18.  
- Suspected of assisting runners.  
- Arrested twice for hindering DS agent on hunt.  
Three friends:  
-Jesse 8, City Maintenance  
- Brenda 12, City office  
- Ronald 7, The Pleasure Palace.  
- Ronald 7 best known friend. Ronald 7 suspected of assisting Dalton 3 but has not been confirmed. Ronald 7 under surveillance.

NOTENOTENOTE

Ronald 7 confirmed as relationship with DS Agent Kimberly 5. Surveillance on Kimberly 5 showed no problems. Surveillance discontinued.

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Kim gasped and her face turned white. Ron was suspected of helping _runners_? She thought back at the times he had been around. There was almost always a runner involved. Was he really helping _them_? Was he _using_ her? She had been under surveillance. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

'No!' Kim thought. 'Ron wouldn't do _that_. He isn't _like_ that.'

"Anything _interesting_ on our boy?"

Kim spun around to see Will standing, there rubbing his arm. Kim cleared the screen and shook her head.

"Nope. Standard stuff. He seemed to be a loner. No real friends it seems. I'll check a little further. Let's get you to the infirmary and get that shoulder looked at."

Will stared at Kim as she took his arm and helped him up the street. She was being nice all of a sudden. What did she _really_ see in Dalton's records? What caused her to gasp and then try to cover it up? Will thought to himself to check Dalton's records for himself when he got the chance.

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Kim left Will in the care of the infirmary. She walked into the debriefing room and placed the objects she had taken from Dalton on the scan table. The scanner head started and surveyed the items for a number of seconds. The scan head turned off. Kim reached for the items to take them to storage.

"Kimberly 5. Approach station and identify."

Kim jumped. The computer seldom spoke. She hesitated for a moment.

"Kimberly 5. Approach station and identify."

Kim slowly walked toward the chair that faced the screen at the far end of the room. She took the seat, the keyboard in front of her and placed her hand on the pad on the chair arm.

The screen in front of her flickered for a moment and then displayed:

'Kimberly 5 – identified."

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Will waited for Kim to come out of the debriefing room. She had been in there for quite awhile. The door opened and Kim marched out, clearly angry. Will stepped beside her as she strode toward the door.

"What's wrong?"

Kim glared back at him.

"The _Thinker_ blamed _me_ for letting the runner get away. Said I should have left you and gotten the runner. I got _docked_ pay because of it and a _reprimand_ on my record."

Will stopped as Kim strode past him and hit the door so hard that it slammed against the wall. She stormed out of the building leaving him standing there watching her. He turned back into the offices and found an open computer station. He called up Dalton's records.

Dalton 3

- Born in State Nursery 25.  
- Moved to State School 25 at age six. Education standard.  
- Discipline problems with authority.  
- Sent to Trade School. Expert in electronics with certification in computer and electronic programming and repair.  
- Joined City Maintenance Staff at age 18.  
- Suspected of assisting runners.  
- Arrested twice for hindering DS agent on hunt.  
Two friends:  
- Jesse 8, City Maintenance  
- Brenda 12, City office

Will cleared the screen. What had Kim seen that caused her to act so funny? He rubbed his shoulder where he had been hit. Typing in another command, he called up Kim's records on the incident today.

Dalton 3 Termination

Flower blacked at 12:30 and appeared on scanners.  
Kimberly 5 and William 2 assigned to intercept.  
Cubs hindered William 2 but he returned to hunt.  
Kimberly 5 left hunt to assist William 2 in violation of Article 3, Section 2.  
Dalton 3 escaped over bridge to Cathedral area and was killed by cubs.  
Kimberly 5 searched body and found body clean.  
10 cubs killed.  
Kimberly 5 found in violation of Article 3, Section 2.  
Salary docked for one day.  
Level Two reprimand on official record.

Will let out a low whistle. No _wonder_ Kim was upset. The docked pay was one thing, but an official Level Two reprimand could hurt even more. That could blow any chance at a promotion next time she was up for one. She could be passed over by agents that were subordinate to her now. Kim would have to have a perfect record for quite awhile to recover from that.

Kim had helped him and got busted for it. This could lead to an opportunity. One more mistake like that and she might as well quit. They would barely let her clean up after a termination after that.

Will smiled to himself as he shut down the terminal. This was shaping up to be a great day.

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I hope that all of you are enjoying the story. The plot continues to build as Kim and Ron grow closer. What is Ron doing? Is he really spying on Kim? What happened to Kim? What is Will going to do? So many questions and so much story to tell.

Please leave a review. I would appreciate it. Just let me know how you like/dislike the story.

Thanks for reading.  
This is the Captain  
Right hand salute  
Over and out.


	5. Chapter 4 Realization

Kimberly's Run  
Chapter Three  
Realization

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Stopping under the overhang of a building near Headquarters, Kim struggled to halt her ragged breathing. Her hands shook as her mind went back to her time in the interview room. It was more like an interrogation. The computer peppered her with question after question, most of which she was unable to answer. Later she worked at the workstation and left. She staggered as she stood to leave. The items that had been scanned were still on the scan table. She slipped them into her pocket as she left. The computer had told her several things she could not believe.

Kim looked down at her palm flower. The blinking was slower now. Her day was coming and she would have to turn herself into a sleepshop and that would be the end of it. There would be no more Ron. Understanding began to creep into her thoughts.

Now she understood.

The question everyone asked.

"WHY RUN?"

Kim covered her face with her hands and sighed. Fighting back feelings she didn't know how to deal with, she stepped out into the sun. Her hand settled on the butt of her gun. She stopped for moment and realized she had left the headquarters building with extra ammunition. The ammo bag still hung from her belt on the other side from the gun. Her gun. She would have to turn it in soon as her last day approached. Kim pulled out her PDA to check Ron's schedule. One, she needed some "Ronshine". Two, and this would be difficult, he would have to find out about what he knew of his friend and did he have any connections with the runners.

"Kim! Kim!"

Kim quickly composed herself and turned toward the familiar voice.

"Marcella!"

Marcella wrapped her arms around Kim. Kim was unsure what was going on and slowly raised her arm to return the hug. Marcella pulled back to look at Kim.

"Kim, would you help me with something?"

Kim stared back at Marcella. They had not spoken in a couple of months. What would Marcella need her for?

Marcella's hands began to shake. Then she turned her palm up to Kim. Her palm flower was black, flashed red, the returned to black. Kim practiced eye recognized that Marcella had to be within two days of Last Day. Marcella's face changed to a small smile.

"Kim, I… I have an appointment with Sleepshop 9. I need some moral support. I'm not running, but I need someone to walk to the shop with me. Would you please? I mean, if I can have someone as strong as you with me then I'm sure everything will be okay."

Kim nodded. This was also part of her job, not one that she really enjoyed but one that was considered a courtesy service of DS agents. Many agents thought it a great idea. If they took the time to escort a few people to their rightful places in a sleepshop, then they would not have to worry about them running. Kim forced a smile of her own. Marcella was only a few weeks older than her.

"Sure, Marcella. I'd be glad to."

Marcella put her arm through Kim's.

"Thank you. I really don't have anybody to go with me."

Kim patted Marcella's hand.

"I thought you and Josh had a thing going."

Marcella grimaced.

"Well, about Josh… I should have listened to you. I remember you telling me he was "five miles of bad road". All I could think of is I got the golden boy the famous Kimberly 5 didn't. When he found out that it was time for my sleep, he just walked."

Kim shook her head.

"I drove him off, Marcella. He couldn't handle me being a DS agent."

Marcella sniffed.

"You'll go inside with me, won't you? I mean, I don't think I could do this alone."

Kim hesitated a minute.

"Well, I'll see. If they'll let me and if I don't get a call… "

Marcella gripped Kim's arm hard.

"_Please_, Kim. I don't think I could handle it alone. Don't let me die alone."

Kim swallowed.

"Okay. If they'll _let_ me."

Kim held onto Marcella as they climbed the stairs to the sleep building. A petite brunette girl met them at the door. She wore a pure white long-sleeved gown with gold trim. A golden rope served as a belt. A hood with a golden lining lay against her back. The reception room was nearly pure white. Soft music played from hidden speakers.

"I am Jessica 6. May I be of assistance?"

Marcella nodded.

"Yes, Marcella 14. I'm scheduled for my time."

Jessica consulted a list on her terminal.

"Oh, yes. Of course. Now, is your friend going to sleep, too?"

Kim shook her head quickly.

"No, my time isn't here yet."

Jessica nodded.

"I understand. It's nice to see our DS agents willing to help those who know their duty."

She looked over at Marcella.

"Everything is arranged. Your room is ready. I see you like the color blue. I'll be sure that your program is set accordingly. Now then, Nathan 4 here will escort you to your room."

Nathan 4 stepped up to Kim and Marcella. He was dressed in a similar fashion as the girl. He took Marcella's hand.

"Come along. We want to make sure you're comfortable."

Marcella held back.

"Could my friend come with me?"

Nathan and Jessica glanced at each other. Nathan shook his head.

"Normally it's not allowed. However, since your friend here is Kimberly 5, I think we can make an exception."

Kim pulled back.

"Marcella, I don't want to break any of the rules. I think…"

Marcella grabbed Kim's hands.

"P-l-e-a-s-e, Kim. I don't want to face sleep alone."

Nathan smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You won't be alone. We'll be right there with you."

Marcella nodded, and then shook her head.

"I know. But Kim's my friend."

Kim nodded. "Okay. I'll go if they'll let me."

Nathan gestured toward one hallway and led them to a room at the end of the hall. The room had a panoramic screen on one wall. Facing the wall was a large couch. The room was pure white until they stepped in. Then lights came on to bathe the entire room in a light baby blue color. A man and a woman dressed in the same manner as Nathan and Jessica approached. They helped Marcella into a gown and assisted her as she lay on the couch. The woman placed a blanket over Marcella. The man and woman pulled their hoods on. The woman pulled a glass from a small cabinet and gave it to Marcella. She drank it and handed it back to the woman. The man stepped to a control panel and pressed to buttons. The screen flicked and scenes of flower-covered meadows appeared.

"Kim?

Kim stepped forward to take Marcella's hand.

_Be Be Be-Beep_

Kim's hand grabbed her commscanner. The screen displayed. "Priority One. Three runners working in unison. All DS forces converge. One DS agent already down."

The screen blinked and another message displayed.

"Kimberly 5. Report to section 9, Sublevel 2"

Kim started to pull away.

"I've got to go, Marcella. It's a priority call."

Marcella grabbed for Kim's hand. Kim noticed that it was an uncoordinated grab. Looking into Marcella's eyes, she could see they were already started to haze.

"Kim, p-l-e-a-s-e…please don't go."

Kim pulled away and started out of the room.

"Kim, please don't let me die alone!"

As Kim headed out of the door she could hear Marcella whimper.

"I don't wanna die!"

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Ron watched the people passing by as he walked toward the Queen's Pleasure Palace. His mind was a blur from the evening before. Kim had come to his room and practically undressed in front of him. No girl had ever done that for him. He had Kim in the palm of his hand. He probably could have asked her to do anything and she would have done it. But he could not do that to her.

The evening had been incredible; just the two of them. Ron meant to tell her that she looked sexier in that old shirt of his, with one of her shoulders showing, than any outfit she could have worn. She left late, later than she intended to but she couldn't force herself to leave. When she did leave, she gave him a kiss that not only curled his toes but nearly melted his shoes. The little smile she gave him as she turned to leave warmed his heart and a few other parts as well. He had to take a ten minute cold shower to calm down enough to go to sleep.

He would have been able to get some sleep had it not been for another visitor, but then that person never did show up at an opportune time or a decent hour. The conversation that followed was not one that Ron enjoyed. What he was starting to feel for Kim made him think more about what he had been doing.

A scream yanked him back into the present. He sucked in his breath and stepped forward. Maybe Kim would not show up. He had been using his position at the Pleasure Palace to weed his way into the top levels of the DS. While he could not walk into the front door of their headquarters, he could walk into their hearts and homes with his services. Get them, full, happy and drunk and they would talk about a lot of things; things that could help runners. Like sections of the city where the scanners did not work, who were the best DS agents, what their weaknesses were and when certain DS agents were to be on duty. But Kim had made him wonder: what was he doing?

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Kim held her commscan out in front of her. There were four runners working in some sort of pattern. One DS agent had been injured. He had been lured into a trap. Now she was working her way through the mall, keeping to the side where she could see but not easily be seen.

Kim saw Ron about the same time she saw both the first runner and one of the other DS agents, David 4. She stopped and stepped to the side into a semi-hidden alcove. She watched as David 4 chased the runner down the concourse. She lost sight of Ron, then at the last second saw him, or what she thought was him. The person was standing in the same place and had the same clothes but the face was not Ron. The person stepped right in front of David 4 just as he reached the spot. Both of them went down hard. The runner dodged into a hall before Kim could move. David 4 stood and ran after the runner. Kim watched as "Ron" stood and disappeared into the crowd. She watched as the figure stepped into a bathroom. Seconds later, Ron exited and turned in the opposite direction.

She was about to follow him when her commscan beeped. Glancing down, she noticed that the runners had converged then split up again. They were all heading in different directions. One was heading in the direction of Ron's apartment. She knew a shortcut through a maintenance hall. Turning, Kim stepped around the corner and entered the hall. She ran down the dimly lit and moist corridor and exited near Ron's apartment. Pulling her commscan out, she scanned for the runner. The signal came in strong. The runner had stopped nearby. Turning the volume off on her commscan, she slowly approached the runner. The screen showed the runner around the corner, but it also showed David 4 and William 2 approaching from the opposite direction. This was an area of the city near Ron's apartment used by service staff. These corridors allowed the service staff of the city to move about without being in the way of everyone. Ron had clearance to use them.

Kim was about to surprise the runner when she heard the pop-hiss of a DS gun. Screams came from the hall along with the sound of running feet. She pulled her gun and made ready to step around the corner to shoot. Just as she made her move, she realized she had misjudged her distance. The two figures were right on top of her. One slammed into her. She saw stars as a fist crashed into the side of her face. The other hand slapped her gun away as they sprawled onto the floor. She gripped runner tight as she focused her eyes on him. Her heart leapt.

"RON!"

Kim shoved him off of her and against the wall. He looked up at her with fear, and then glanced to the side.

"JASON! NO! DON'T!"

Kim looked up and realized she was dead. The runner had picked up her gun and she was looking down the barrel. His face broke into a crooked smile.

"I KILLED KIMBERLY 5!"

Ron pushed Kim out of the way as he fired. The plasma round scorched a furrow down his leg. There was a pop-hiss of another DS gun and the runner's chest exploded in gore. He slipped to the floor, dropping Kim's gun.

Kim limped over to the runner's body and retrieved her gun. David 4 approached, his gun drawn and pointed at Ron.

"Good job, Kim. We knew someone was helping the runners get into the service corridors but had no idea who. Now the help ends here."

David raised his piston to firing position and aimed at Ron. A smile crossed David's face.

"You got Kim's gun from her."

Ron turned to Kim and looked straight into her eyes.

"I love you," he whispered.

Ron turned to face David and closed his eyes, waiting for the shot.

The pop-hiss of the gun rang in his ears, yet he felt no pain. Slowly he opened his eyes to see David 4 slipping to the floor, a cauterized hole in the center of his chest. Ron turned his head to see Kim crouched in firing position with her gun pointed at David 4. She stood up and stepped over to Ron with her gun in her hand. He swallowed as the muzzle passed over his forehead. Then she sobbed, dropped her gun and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pulling back, she gave him a quick hard kiss and glanced directly into his eyes, her emerald ones burning into his brown ones.

"I love you, too. Now get the hell out of here! Go to your apartment and wait for me. I have work to do. Then…then, Ron, we've got to talk!"

Kim pulled an object from her pocket and gave it to Ron. Ron stared down into his hand. It was an ankh; it was the key, the key to sanctuary. He raised his eyes to look into Kim's moist ones. Kim shook her head.

"Ron, I don't have a lot of time to explain. But I need your help. Being with you…it's what I want to do."

Kim showed her palm to Ron. Her palm flower was very slowly blinking black and red.

"I saw a friend go to the sleepshop today. I… I can't go like that. A lot has happened to me lately. I… I want to live. Live with you. I'm asking you to run… run with me. But right now, get to your apartment. I'm going to try and cover this up. But sooner or later, I think they'll figure it out, and then they'll hunt us both down without a second thought. So go! Now!"

Ron nodded and stood. He hesitated for a moment and then bent and gave Kim a kiss on her forehead. Pulling his security card from his pocket, he ran down a side hall, opened the door and disappeared. Kim put her gun in her holster and stepped over to David 4's lifeless body. His eyes stared back at her in surprise. Kim stepped over to the runner's body and started to check it over.

Footsteps sounded down the hall and Will ran up with Wayne 11 behind him. Will looked around and saw David's body.

"What happened?"

Kim turned her face up to Will, her recent tears still moist on her face.

"The runner jumped me and took my gun. He was about to shoot me when David ran up. They both fired at the same time. David died saving me."

Will looked around, surveying the two bodies.

"Okay, Kim, check in with the doctors and get checked out. Then head back to Headquarters and make a report. Take your time, but I expect to see you by the end of your shift."

Kim nodded and stood up.

"Make sure David gets the recognition he deserves."

Will nodded.

"He will. Now get to the doctor's and get checked out. It looks like the runner belted you a good one."

Kim reached up and touched her cheek. She winced at the sharp pain.

"Yeah, he sure did. I'll see you before the end of shift."

Kim turned and walked back up the hall as the medical team arrived to retrieve the bodies.

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I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Kim and Ron will have to run now. Their lives are forfeit and their only hope is Sanctuary.

Please leave a review. I would appreciate it.

Thanks  
The Captain.


	6. Chapter 5 Where are we to go?

**Kimberly's Run  
By Captainkodak1  
Chapter 5  
Where are we to go?**

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Ron paced back and forth, his mind racing.

Kim knew that he had been helping runners. He knew what happened to those who helped runners. If the DS agents did not shoot you outright, the police gave you a one way trip to a sleepshop. Ron started to pack some things. If they had to run, they would need food.

He opened a hidden compartment in the back of the pantry. Recent plans had been made for him to help the runners by supplying food to support them as they ran. Inside the compartment was a large package. Inside the package was enough food to support four or five runners for at least three days. The food was either dried or in air-tight packaging. Underneath were two backpacks, which he pulled out and stuffed all the food he could fit. Hurrying to his room, he pulled out a couple of changes of clothes.

"Rufus, buddy, I am _so_ in trouble. Kim _knows_."

Rufus cowered in fear.

Ron petted him.

"Yeah, she knows, buddy, but… she didn't care. She's in bigger trouble than me. She shot another Sandman. When they find out and if they catch us, they'll use us for target practice."

Pulling open the drawer to his nightstand, Ron slid back the false bottom revealing another ankh, exactly like the one Kim had just given him. He was a couple of months from his last day. Kim had told him she was about the same. In the short time they had known each other, Ron knew he had found something in Kim that he had never found in anyone else. He could only hope that she felt the same. She had said so. But did she really feel that way? She was a Sandman, one of the best. Was she playing him to get to more runners?

"Come on, Rufus. We need to get ready. Kim said she would be coming as soon as she could."

Rufus hopped up on Ron's shoulder and rubbed up against his cheek. Ron rubbed his little friend. The door chime sounded.

Ron stepped slowly over to the door and looked through the peephole. Seeing Kim, he quickly opened the door open and let her in. Kim dropped a bag she was carrying and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close as the door shut behind her. The two of them stood there for several minutes just holding each other. Ron pulled back and brushed an stray lock of hair from Kim's face. A dark bruise was forming on her cheek. He caressed the bruise, causing Kim to wince.

"Sorry about that."

Kim smiled.

"No big. You have a good right cross there."

Ron bent over and gently kissed her cheek as Kim nuzzled her face into his neck. Ron rubbed the back of her neck.

"Kim, I need to tell you something. I'll make it fast."

Kim pulled back to look up at him. Ron sighed as he caressed her hair.

"It was a setup. I was set to serve you in the hopes that cooking for you and with my other skills that I'd be able to work my way into your life. They had tried using the 'Hotties' and that didn't work so they tried a different tact."

Ron pulled away from Kim and turned his back to her.

"Ballard contacted me a few months ago."

Kim gasped.

"Ballard is real?"

Ron nodded.

"I met with him once in the basement. I never got a good look at him because he was in the shadows and he disguised his voice. He told me what they wanted from me and turned me over a couple of people who gave me what I needed."

Ron looked down at Kim.

"They wanted me to find out everything I could to help the runners. Then, if I had to, I was supposed to drug you one day before duty. It would have been a timed release drug designed to trigger while you were on a hunt. They'd either catch you themselves or draw you into the Cathedral area. Either way, you would've been dead and no one the wiser."

He turned back to her.

"But I couldn't do it. Sure, I messed up a couple of your hunts by stumbling at the right time; yours and others. But I couldn't keep doing it. I love you, Kim. I couldn't keep on doing what I was doing. I was going to tell them after the runners went tonight. But you showed up unplanned and messed that up. I… I lost my extra card. The runner was supposed to give it back to me but… well, you know the rest. They'll find that card down there, check its use and that'll be it."

"I'm running, Kim. I have no choice."

Kim raised her index finger to touch his lips.

"Ron… I know. The DS computer told me that you were suspected of helping runners but they couldn't prove anything. I was going to approach you about it, but… this sitch seems to have pushed us both into things we'd rather not be doing. It hurts; what you did. But the other night… I don't think you were faking that. _I_ wasn't. I love you too, Ron; _all the way_. I want to live because I want to live with _you_."

"I killed another Sandman tonight. The autopsies will tell them what I said was wrong. All our guns are set on timers and can be tracked. Each time we fire it's recorded by the main computer sensors. Once they check the computer and time the incident they'll know. I'm dead. No holds barred. If they catch me, there won't be any questions asked; nothing as nice as a homer. They'll just shoot me."

Kim buried her face into his chest again.

"Let's get out of here."

"One question. That thing I gave you. What is it?"

Ron pulled both of the objects out of his pocket.

"They're passkeys. Like an ID for runners. Only runners that have been planned and everything setup will have these. They'll get you through the checkpoints."

Kim nodded as she looked around. Noticing the backpacks, she reached down, picked one up, unzipped it and looked inside.

"Well, this ought to get us a ways. I have my gun, plus an extra charge pack along with some extra ammo. That should give us a little bit of an edge. Now, let me change into something less noticeable. What's the first step?"

Ron turned his back as Kim stripped out of her DS uniform and slipped on a green top and blue pants. Ron had changed into one of his red jerseys and khaki pants. Kim pulled a couple of outfits from her bag.

"I got these the other day. I don't know; they just seemed to be something we could wear together."

Ron glanced at his outfit as he put it in his bag. The outfit consisted of a black turtle neck shirt and gray pants. Kim's shirt was also black but was short and would show her stomach. Her pants were olive green. Kim stuffed the extra clothes into her pack and shouldered her pack as Ron did the same.

"Where to?" asked Kim.

Ron patted on the two ankhs in his pocket.

"The first stop will be 'A New You'."

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Will watched as the computer completed the autopsies of the runner's and David 4's bodies. The results that displayed were pretty much as he suspected. The blast from David's gun had killed the runner. The blast from Kim's gun had killed David. The bodies were sent on for processing and Will returned to his workstation to finish his report. Typing into the station, he asked for Kim's report.

'Kimberly 7 has not returned from duty. No report is on file.'

Will queried the medical logs. Kim had not checked with the doctors. Puzzled, Will shrugged and went about finishing with the incident. He typed in the command to bring up the timing of the shootings. He looked at the results and asked for a confirmation. David's gun had fired first, but Kim's gun did not fire until ten seconds later. The runner could not have fired the shot that killed David. The autopsy confirmed he was killed instantly by the shot. If he didn't shoot David, who did? The only people Kim told him were in the hall were the runner, her and David. That would mean one of two things. Either Kim shot David or someone else Kim was protecting shot him. For some reason Kim had lied to him.

Will called up the report on who had used their access cards to be in that hall at that time. The first two names he expected to see: David and Kim. It was the third name was a surprise:

_Ronald _

The chef from the Queen's Pleasure Palace, the guy that Kim had been seeing. Will made it a point to keep tabs on all his people and this seemingly small detail was building on the fact that Kim had not told the truth about the shooting. Will typed in another command, querying for Kim and Ron's Last Days. Both were only weeks away and neither had made any arrangements.

Will sat back and thought for a moment. He typed in Ron's name and queried his complete records. The normal stuff came across the screen: when he was born, the nursery and schools he went to along with his job history. By itself, the information didn't say a great deal. However, when compared side-by-side with Kim's records, an undeniable pattern emerged. The two of them had known each other most of their lives but had gone separate ways until recently.

Will typed in a command to check Ron's background to see who else he spent time with and their relations to runners. The computer screen went blank for a moment then displayed the response:

_Access to this information denied._

A scowl crossed Will's face. He had never been denied access to any information before. Typing again, he entered:

_Administrative over-ride access code AlphaNovemberDelta_

The screen blinked again and displayed:

_Query: Ronald and any known runner - No matches_

Will sat back again, scowling. He had personally led an investigation concerning Ron when he and Kim started seeing each other. Will knew for a fact that Ron did have some connections with the runners but hoped to find more. Then he remembered Kim's long stay in the Interview Room and her having access to the system. Well, two could play that game. Will used a special code known only to a select few DS agents. With it he could hack directly into the system.

Scanning back to the time of Kim's interview, Will searched for access to the Interview Room. Next, he checked for the keystrokes entered on the station in the Room. He nodded and smiled as he read the information:

_enter code for access_

_xxxxxx_

_access confirmed_

_query Ronald 7_

Born in State Nursery 15.  
- Moved to State School 20 at age six. Education standard.  
- considered loner, periods of detention

- Sent to Trade School. Aptitude for food service attended senior chef school rated 1 in class

- Joined Queens Pleasure Palace at age 18.  
- Suspected of assisting runners.  
Two friends:  
- Dalton 3, City Maintenance  
- Tara 10, DS office

DS Query.  
. Ronald 7 suspected of assisting Dalton 3 but has not been confirmed. Ronald 7 under surveillance.

NOTENOTENOTE

Ronald 7 confirmed as relationship with DS Agent Kimberly 5. Surveillance on Kimberly 5 showed no problems. Surveillance discontinued.

Will noticed a series of keystrokes. After Kim was finished, Ron's record looked considerably different:

Born in State Nursery 15.  
- Moved to State School 20 at age six. Education standard.  
- standard student

- Sent to Trade School. Aptitude for food service attended senior chef school rated 1 in class

- Joined Queens Pleasure Palace at age 18.  
Two friends:  
- Tara 10, DS office  
- Kimberly 5, DS agent

No affiliation with any runner.

_Save record_

_Log off Kimberly 5_

Will stood up from his station. Kim had lied to him about the shooting. Ron had been in the hall during the shooting. Ron had been working with the runners. Kim had used her computer access to clear his record. Kim and Ron were near Last Day. They were romantically involved. Kim was heavily armed with extra ammunition. Kim and Ron were runners.

Will ran a location trace on Kim and Ron. The computer came back.

_Last known location: District 3, Sublevel 6, section a_

Will pulled his pistol and checked its charge. Patting his bag, he checked the extra loads he had picked up earlier. Logging off the station, he strode out of the headquarters building. He was going to do something he never thought he would have to do, but something in some way he would enjoy. He would have to hunt down and shoot Kimberly 5 and anyone else who got in his way.

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Ron held Kim's hand as he guided her through a completely dark section of the pipeway. She could not see anything yet trusted he knew what he was doing. A loud _clang_ alerted her to duck. Ron halted and he mumbled a few terse curses.

"I always forget that one pipe."

Kim reached for his head.

"You okay?"

She felt Ron nod.

"Yeah, I just forgot that one low pipe. Come on. We're close to coming out of this pipeway."

Kim could see some light up ahead. Ron started to emerge from the darkness. They stepped out into the larger pipeway under the main part of the city. Ron pointed down one passageway.

"I'm going to check down there to see if the maintenance guys have opened one of the hatches. Stay right here."

Kim nodded and waited in the semidarkness of the tunnels. She had waited only a minute or so when he heard Ron yell. She pulled her pistol and slowly advanced. She glanced around for signs of Ron and then she heard a scratching noise. Kim looked down to see Ron's pet pulling at her pants leg. Those two were inseparable and if the little guy was by himself then something had happened to Ron.

She knelt down and picked up Rufus bringing the little guy up to her face.

"Is Ron in trouble? What am I doing? I am talking to a rat?"

Rufus grabbed Kim's face and pulled it to look in her eyes. He nodded up and down.

"Uh huh, uh huh!"

Kim looked at Rufus. This was getting weird. She could actually understand him.

"Okay show me!"

Rufus hopped to the floor and led Kim through a maze of paths through the pipes. Rufus stopped at one corner and held us his paw for Kim to stop. Kim could hear someone talking. She recognized the voice. It was the last voice she wanted to hear. It was Will.

Kim slid up against the pipes of the passageway and pulled a small compact from her pocket. She opened it and slid it around the edge of the pipes. She could see Will standing over Ron, his gun drawn.

"Okay, Ronnie. Where's Kim?"

Ron shook his head. Will drew back his foot and kicked Ron hard in the stomach.

"Listen. I don't give a flip about you. It's Kim I want. She always made me look like an idiot. But now I have everything I need to bring her up on charges. I'll make you a deal. You love her. Do you want her to die _slow_ or _fast_? Lead me to her and I'll make sure she dies quickly. Make me hunt her down and I guarantee she'll die _slowly_ and _painfully_, only after a very public trial where she will be totally humiliated. Then she'll be put in front of a firing squad where they'll shoot her to pieces while the public watches."

Will hesitated for a moment then kicked Ron again.

"So, what'll it be?"

Kim saw Ron look in her direction. He saw her mirror and winked. He looked up at Will.

"You'll make it quick?"

Will smiled.

"Yeah. Then I'll be the fastest gun."

Kim spun into the open.

"Not fast enough!"

Kim fired at Will. Sparks flared on the pipes where he had been standing. Steam roared into the passageway. Ron rolled away and ran toward Kim as Will wildly fired a shot through the steam. Kim fired another shot into the pipe over the door behind Will. More steam shot down, blocking the door. Kim grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him to her side. She loaded a vapor round and fired it into the steam. She reloaded another and fired again. Knockout gas filled the end of the passageway.

"Come on! The steam's blocked him from going anywhere. The gas will knock him out for a few hours. He won't be able to do anything until we're long gone."

Ron took Kim's hand and they ran down the corridor to what they hoped was the way to Sanctuary. Rufus jumped into a pocket in the leg of Ron's pants.

Behind them, Will lay unconscious on the floor, his commscan in his hand, his finger on the emergency distress beacon.

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I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Kim and Ron will have to run now. Their lives are forfeit and their only hope is Sanctuary.

For you old movie buffs out there, some of you may have recognized the scene in the last chapter were Kim's friend was put to sleep. It actually came from another 70's protest movie on overpopulation. It was called "Soylent Green". Needless to say that they found an interesting was to solve their food problem.

I hope all of you are enjoying this story. Please leave a review. I would appreciate it.

Thanks

The Captain.


	7. Chapter 6 Where there is a Will

**Kimberly's Run  
Chapter Six  
Where there is a Will  
By Captainkodak1**  
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The humid air stank of mold and mildew as Kim and Ron trotted through an old section of the city. Will's jabs and kick to the ribs were taking their toll on Ron, so Kim held back to stay with him.

"Got… to stop," Ron gasped. He slid to the floor, clutching his side. Kim knelt beside him and pulled up his shirt. She grimaced at the bruise that was already forming. She gently probed his side. A hissing noise through his teeth was all the sound he made. Kim pulled his shirt back down.

"Nothing broken but I'll bet it hurts."

Ron tried to laugh.

"You need to go to New Las Vegas, because you seem to bet on sure things."

Kim stared at Ron for a second and began to giggle. She hadn't giggled a lot until she had met him again. Kim pulled his face to her and gently gave him a kiss. When she pulled back, he was clearly lost in the feeling.

"W-o-w. Talk about great painkillers! Your kisses are the best!"

Kim smiled at him.

"Okay. We need to get moving. I have no idea how long Will will be down. As soon as he comes to and sounds the alarm our lives won't be worth a shorted chip. Now, where do we go from here?"

Ron looked up and read the sequence of letters and numbers painted on the wall.

"Looks like just about half a mile to where we are headed. Then we'll need to head up to "A New You". What do you want to have done? A new face, new body or what?"

Kim blanched.

"You mean they actually expect us to undergo an _operation_?"

Ron shook his head.

"Not really. Besides, I don't want you messing with that beautiful face and body anyway. It's _already_ perfect."

Kim stared openmouthed back at Ron. Her mouth closed to a sly smile.

"If you keep complimenting me like that I'll have to hire someone to beat you up on a regular basis. Now come on."

Kim pulled Ron to his feet and they ran down the pipe corridor.

"H-m-m-m," Kim observed. "Maybe we can do something about those ears."

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Will opened his eyes to a bright light shining down from above. Trying to block the light with his hand, he found he could barely move. The light went away and he saw blurry shapes all around him. He blinked his eyes and found his vision gradually coming into focus. He could hear sounds; garbled at first but slowly clearing. He glanced up again to see one of the DS doctors looking at him. A hand touched him on the shoulder; he turned to see David 12, one of the head DS agents for his section. Will raised his head for a second, glanced about the room and found there were a number of other DS agents there all looking at him. He laid his head back when the movement caused his head to hurt.

"Will. Can you hear me? Will? What happened?"

Will shook his head and the pain slowly faded. He tried to speak but found his mouth so dry he was unable to do so. The doctor held a cup of water to his lips and he gulped downed the entire cup. Slowly with assistance he sat up on the gurney.

"How long?"

David 12 looked at him.

"How long what?"

Will tried to shake the rock band out of his head.

"How long have I been out?"

David 12 checked a tablet next to him.

"We received your beacon at 13:45. We think it had been transmitting for awhile before it was able to work its way through the interference down there. It wasn't until a repair crew turned off the steam to the line near you that we even were able to hear it. The steam line had been broken about 13:30. It's 15:45 now. You've been out for about two hours."

Will set his feet on the floor, tried to stand but immediately collapsed. David and the doctor caught him. Will grabbed David by the sleeve.

"We have a situation. Kimberly 7 has gone rogue!"

The room went instantly silent. David's eyes bore into Will's.

Will closed his eyes.

"Kimberly's gone rogue. Her LastDay is within the week. The man she's been seeing --- the one suspected of helping runners --- I've got proof that he's doing it. I also have proof that David 4 was not shot by the runner. Kimberly shot David 4."

"You'd better have a lot of proof before making a charge like that," spoke Michael sternly.

Will glared back.

"Are you listening to me? _Kim shot David_. I think she did it to protect that Ron. He's facing his LastDay, too. Don't you understand? It was Kim and that Ron that put me out. Kim nearly blew my head off. They're running and Kim's armed. We have to track them now before they get away."

David turned to the other DS agents.

"Okay. Just in case, let's put out a search."

David turned back to Will.

"You say she's armed. Does she have anything else other than her DS gun?"

Will nodded.

"We'd just made a run in the Cathedral area. She's carrying her gun, plus at least one extra power pack and three or four times the extra rounds we normally carry. She knows the underground better than any of us and I bet that Ron knows them even better than her. I don't know how, but she got in the computer and changed Ron's data to show he wasn't affiliated with the runners. She also changed some records about the runner that got killed by the cubs. I think she has special information on where the runners are going and she's using that to protect the two of them."

The other agents winced when they heard how much Kim was armed. They knew she was tough enough with a standard load. Now she had at least four times that. They were not looking forward to confronting her.

David shook his head as he turned away from Will.

"Okay, full scale search. Get some men down underground. Pair up and work in teams. _Do_ _not_ --- I repeat --- _do not_ go off on your own. The odds will be in your favor as long as you work together. Now move!"

The agents filed quickly from the room as Will's face creased into a little smile. Things were getting better and better.

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Ron led the way as he and Kim approached the door out into the hallway. There were a number of people walking by: shopping, heading to work, or just out walking. Everyone was in the light flowing clothes that were common. Kim looked down at their clothes.

"Ron, we're really going to stand out walking in these clothes. Might as well yell 'Look at us! We're different!'"

Ron looked around and noticed a cart loaded down with repair equipment. He grabbed a safety helmet from one of the racks and plopped it down on Kim's head. He picked up another off the rack and put it on.

"Now we're just two repair techs heading for our next job. All you have to do is look like you know what you're doing and they'll ignore you. Who cares what a repair tech wears on the job? They're just lowlife anyway."

Kim tucked her hair down into her collar and settled the helmet further back on her head. Ron pushed the door open and she rolled the cart out into the hallway. Ron stepped behind the cart and started to push it. Kim fell into place next to him and they headed up the hallway. Soon Kim saw the sign flashing on the side of the building.

"A NEW YOU."

Ron turned down a small alley and pushed the repair cart out of the way. Kim tossed him her helmet and he dropped it on the cart. Taking his off he placed it on top off the one she had been wearing. Ron reached into his pocket and took out both the ankhs that were in his pocket. Kim pushed on the door to the clinic and stepped in.

One wall of the reception room was lined with Plastiform chairs that had seen better days. The paint on the walls was discolored and stained; stained with what Kim was sure she didn't want to know. A young man sat at the reception desk reading a holomag. Kim and Ron walked up to the desk and waited as the receptionist ignored them, staring closely at one of the holographic pictures. Kim was about to reach over and strangle him when he put down the magazine.

"Welcome to 'A New You'. How may I help you?"

Ron placed the two ankhs on the table. The young man turned a pasty white for a moment then nodded.

"Hand?"

Kim and Ron both raised their palms, showing their palmflowers blinking rapidly.

"Well then, you'll be needing to see the Doc. Come on back. What would you like to have done: a new face, a new body or both?"

He turned and stared at Ron.

"I'm sure we can do something with those ears."

Before Ron could complain the young man led them into a circular enclosure that was in the center of a room full of equipment. Inside the enclosure was something like a bed. The receptionist turned to the two of them.

"Now, who will be first? Why not the lady? 'Ladies first', you know. First I need you take everything out of your pockets. You can give them to your friend here. He can hold them until we're finished."

Kim hesitated.

"But I really don't_want_ anything done."

The receptionist nodded.

"That's okay. We've gone through the motions. All for show, you know. Let's get you ready."

Kim and Ron stepped out of the enclosure and over to a table with some chairs. Crowding next to Ron, Kim pulled her DS gun out of her waistband, slipped it into his hands and down the front of his pants.

"If anything goes wrong, don't think, don't ask questions; just shoot it. Just aim and squeeze the trigger. Oh, by the way: please be careful if and when you pull it out of your pants. Don't put your finger on the trigger until you pull it out. We wouldn't want to lose something important."

Kim patted Ron on the cheek and gave him a kiss. Ron thought about what Kim had said and then turned beet red.

Kim followed the receptionist into the enclosure. Above the table hung a myriad of surgical implements. The Ferguson Auto-Surgical table was the best there was. The machine could do practically anything. _How did a hole-in-the-wall operation get hold of one?_, Kim wondered. It could lengthen bone, broaden shoulders, even change dental patterns. It would sever a bone in a second or cradle a single nerve with exquisite care. It was precise, unemotional.

Kim lay on the table as the receptionist strapped her down.

The man patted Kim on the shoulder.

"Now, just what do you want done?"

"Well, well. It's Kim. Nice to see you again, K."

Kim turned her head to see the Doc. If she had been standing her jaw would have hit the floor. Beside her stood Bonnie 15 dressed in surgical garb, her arms crossed. Bonnie smiled evilly at Kim.

"I'm surprised the city's leading Sandman has come here to get a change. I suppose I_could_ change your face, but even the computer can't help that. I could tell the table to change what you have up front but the trouble is it has to have something to work with."

Kim had to clench her teeth to keep from retorting. Right now she was at the mercy of the person at the controls. She glanced over to Ron to see that he had stood up with his hands in front of him.

"I don't have time for you now, Bonnie. We need the next step to Sanctuary."

Bonnie sneered.

"Like you ever had time for me. And why should I tell a Sandman where Sanctuary is? Give me _some_ credit."

There was a beeping from the control table and Bonnie walked over to look down at the screen. An ominous smile crossed her face.

"Well, well, well. We've been a bad little Sandman, haven't we? I just got word that every Sandman in the TriCities is looking for you two. Seems like you killed another Sandman to protect your little boy toy over there. There seems to be a little reward for your hide. Well, they didn't say what _condition_ your hide had to be in."

Bonnie's hands flew over the controls of the unit. A spin knife lowered toward Kim's face. Kim tried to bury the back of her head into the padding of the table as the knife came closer to her face.

Ron didn't know what was happening but it could not be good. Seeing the receptionist and the doctor were focused on Kim, he slowly and carefully removed her gun from his pants. He just about had it all the way out of his waistband when it went off, severing his belt and causing his pants to drop down to his ankles.

The sound of the DS gun in the small room was unmistakable. Bonnie spun around and stared wide-eyed as Ron leveled the DS gun and fired. The round struck the table in a shower of sparks. The equipment above flailed about crazily. Kim sucked in her breath as knives lasers and saws spun all around her. One knife hissed down and severed the strap holding her wrist. She pulled her hand free, released the rest of the straps and rolled off the table.

Bonnie screamed in frustration and fled down a short hall. The receptionist ran from the room in the direction they had come. Kim crawled out of the enclosure as the machine attacked itself, shredded pieces flying everywhere as sparks flew. Running over, Ron attempted to cover her with one hand while holding up his pants with the other.

Snatching the gun from Ron, Kim stuffed it in the waistband of her pants. She then spun a piece of her shredded shirt into a rope, threaded it through the belt loops of Ron's pants and quickly tied it in a knot to hold them up. As she was doing this, Ron's eyes grew wide at something he saw behind her. He shoved her to the side.

"Look out, Kim!"

Kim felt a chill in the air as something swished by her head. Ron yelled as the floor around his feet exploded in ice.

A Popsicle!

Kim spun to face her assailant. Bonnie stood there with the refrigerated riot club in her hand. One blow to the chest and every bit of moisture in her body would be instantly frozen. She drew her gun, but Bonnie swung at her, knocking it from her hands. The gun spun to the floor covered in frost. Kim backed up as Bonnie advanced, flipping the club from one hand to the other. Bonnie got closer as Kim continued to retreat. She was soon cornered. Tripping over a chair, she fell sprawling to the floor.

Bonnie grinned wickedly.

"They didn't say anything about you being frozen. Say goodbye to the loser, K!"

Bonnie swung the club out to hit Kim when it was snatched from her hands. She spun to see Ron backing up, holding it in his hands. He flipped it in his hands a couple of times as he continued to back up.

"GIVE THAT BACK TO ME, YOU LOSER!" Bonnie screamed.

"Sure!" Ron tossed it back to her. There was an explosion of frost. Kim glanced up to see Bonnie standing there holding the Popsicle; only she was holding the wrong end. She was covered in frost and frozen solid. Ron stepped back a little bit with a smile on his face.

"Uh–oh. My bad. I guess I should have given you the _other_ end."

Kim got up and trotted over to Ron. Taking his face in her hands she gave him a kiss.

"_That's_ for keeping that table from giving me a total body lift…"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a second kiss that sucked the breath from his lungs.

"…and _that's_ for keeping me from being turned into a Kimcicle. Now, let's get out of here. Do you know where to go?"

The receptionist appeared from around the corner.

"You need to head for Cathedral. Your next stop's there. If you can survive the cubs, you'll be able to get out of the city and onto the next stop."

The man handed Kim and Ron two mazekeys, keys to fit into a mazecar. The maze was a vast-beyond-imagination network of tunnels that connected cities, nations and continents. The mazecars navigated these tunnels; black steel beetles that burrowed through the subterranean depths at fantastic speeds.

"Just follow the instructions. You'd better get going. She had a deal with some of the Sandmen. She'd turn over certain runners, either letting the table tear them apart, or pop them with a Popsicle. I'll dose myself with something to put me under a bit. Now get going. Tell Ballard we'll need a new Doc."

Kim stopped as she picked up all their stuff.

"Ballard? He's_real_?"

The man nodded.

"Oh, yes. V-e-r-y real. I imagine you'll see him sooner or later. Now get going."

Kim turned, walked up to Bonnie and stared into her frozen face.

"I always suspected you were frigid, B. Nice to know I was right."

Kim and Ron dashed out of the building and to the nearest mazecar station. Climbing in, Kim inserted a mazekey into the slot on the console. The car hummed for a moment and then started off into the darkness of the tunnel.

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The mazecar came to a stop at a deserted station. The plaster walls were pockmarked with holes. Ceiling tiles lay strewn on the floor. A weathered poster peeled slowly away from the wall. Over it all hung a rust-stained sign:

"Cathedral"

Kim and Ron exited the car with their packs and looked around. The clamshell doors of the mazecar closed behind them and it immediately zipped off down the tunnel.

The only sound was the dripping of water. Then in the distance a new sound came to their ears.

"Sandman, Sandman

Leave my door,

Don't come back here

Anymore."

Kim pulled her gun from her waistbelt.

"Great. That's _all_ we need. _Cubs_."

The scratching of feet caused her to whirl around. Kim found herself aiming at a small boy dragging a bag. Grimy with tangled hair, his legs were covered with scabs and he was barefoot.

"Don't be afraid. I'm Johnny."

Kim lowered her gun.

"What are you doing here?"

The little boy dropped his bag and put his hand in his pocket. He pulled out two more mazekeys.

"He told me to meet you here."

Kim knelt down in front of the boy.

"_Who_ did?"

Johnny looked at Kim with a puzzled face.

"The old old man with black and grey hair. He had deep cracks in his face. He's the oldest man in the world."

Kim glanced back at Ron.

"Ballard!"

Johnny gave Kim the mazekeys.

"He told me to give you these."

Kim took the keys.

"Do we use them now?"

Johnny shook his head and held up ten fingers.

"This time."

Ron looked at his watch.

"Fifteen minutes."

Kim turned her attention back to the boy.

"Where do you live?"

Johnny smiled.

"Here."

Kim looked around.

"Don't you get hungry on your own?"

Johnny shook his head and pulled his bag to him.

"You can catch what you want to eat."

He pulled a rattrap out of the bag. Ron turned pale. Johnny put his rat trap back in his bag and disappeared down a dark hallway. Kim stood and looked around. She pulled a ripper from her bag and placed it on the end of her gun.

"I hope the cubs leave us alone long enough."

A group of cubs came howling from another hallway and surrounded Kim and Ron. Kim motioned for Ron to get behind her as she leveled her gun at the group.. Leading the group was a lanky boy. He wore the blood-stained tunic of a Sandman. Kim checked her watch. Ten minutes till the car came. She leveled the gun at the boy. He sneered.

"Go ahead. Shoot. You might get some of us, but the rest of us will get you."

Kim continued to retreat toward the callbox. She handed Ron the mazekey. Taking it, he made ready to put it in the call slot.

The cub leader took out a muscle drug pad. The rest of the others did the same. Kim tightened her finger on the trigger. They were too close. The ripper round would take out a few but nowhere near enough. She and Ron were in deep trouble.

The cubs popped the muscle pads and began to sniff them. Kim watched as they started to shimmer and move. She ducked as a knife sliced through the air, barely missing her neck. Kim rolled forward, hoping to get against a wall so they could not surround her. Ron turned to help her when a fist struck him in the stomach and dropped him to the floor. Kim caught a brick in the arm and was knocked off her feet. The shimmering figures converged on her. Ron rolled in front of her, wielding a long steel pole.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

Ron stood in front of Kim swinging the pole side to side. He held it across his chest with each end extending out. Kim stood up behind him.

"RON!"

"WHAT???"

Ron spun around to face her, still holding the steel pole. Kim had to duck to keep from getting hit with the pole. The inertia of the pole caused Ron to keep spinning.

_Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!_

The pole vibrated as the attacking cubs ran into the pole. They fell to the ground and rolled slowly around.

"RON!"

"WHAT???"

Kim had to duck again as Ron spun the pole back around.

_Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!_

The pole vibrated again as more cubs were decked by the spinning top of doom that was Ron and his steel pole.

The mazecar came into the station and stopped. Kim jumped up, grabbed the pole from Ron and threw it to the floor. Taking his hand, they ran for the car. Kim glanced over her shoulder to see the cubs recovering and gathering for another attack. Ron dove into the car and shoved one of the cards into the slot. Kim turned to see the cubs charging. Raising her DS gun, she fired. The ripper cracked out as she turned to dive into the car.

"GO!"

Ron slammed the "Close Door" handle and simultaneously punched the "Proceed" button. The car sped off into the darkness. Kim's last vision of the station was the headless corpse of the leader toppling over onto the ground. The two of them just held each other as the car continued to speed down the tunnel. After a few minutes of rest, Kim sat up in her seat and brushed back her hair. Ron saw the sleeve of her shirt was torn.

"Kim! You're hurt!"

He pulled a first aid kit from the pocket of the car and started to treat her arm. Kim winced as he applied some antiseptic to the cut on her arm.

"Nice moves with that pole."

Ron grinned and pulled a bandage from the kit.

"I couldn't think of anything else to do."

When Ron was finished bandaging her arm they settled back in the car seats. Kim leaned over onto to Ron.

"Any idea where this thing's going?"

He shook his head.

"Nope, but it's got to be better than back there."

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Will stared at the computer screen in amazement. The computer was set to track Kim's gun if it fired. The bright blip on his screen confirmed Kim's location and that they had made it to the mazecar station under Cathedral. Those two had made it out of the city with every Sandman in the area after them. Will stood as the other Sandmen watched him. He strode over to the ammo box and loaded up several extra rounds in his pouch. Turning to another locker, he pulled out a backpack and filled it with field rations. Without another word he shouldered the backpack and headed for the nearest mazecar station. The other Sandmen just shrugged their shoulders and went back to work. They didn't give Kim and her friend any chance at all.

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Kim and Ron have made it out of the city where they had lived their entire lives. What will they face in the unknown? Who will they find out there? Will they be friendly? Can Kim and Ron find their way to Sanctuary and a new life? What about Will? What is he going to do? Will knows where they are and will soon be on their trail. He has a score to settle to both of them. Stay tuned.

That's it for now. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter of Kimberly's Run. Please leave a review. I would appreciate it.

Kim, Ron and the gang are property of Disney.


	8. Chapter 7 Water, Water Everywhere

Kimberly's Run  
Chapter 7  
Water Water Everywhere  
By Captainkodak1

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Before the Little War, the problem wasn't just living but eating. Food was a premium. The fourth horseman of the Apocalypse rode the countryside. Famine was his name and many fell under his power.

Man looked to the other planets for new land. Ships were sent out, yet there were no places to go. They were either broiling hot or frozen solid. One ship never returned. Others returned when there was no hope. Man realized that six-sevenths of the earth was covered in water. Salt water and fresh water and that was just the surface. But this area of production was in three dimensions. Protein came in many forms. It didn't matter if it was fish or fowl.

The deep seemed to produce the most food. The true deep of blackness and enormous pressures could out produce any plot of land. Fish farms, squid corrals, shrimp corrals, oyster and clam towers were spread out over the expanse of the deep blue green waters. So they built her and called her MUFFI. She took years to design and build. She covered miles of seafloor and bedrock. Living quarters and work space for the thousands of workers were provided by her. She was the first. Soon others followed and they continued to feed the world. Submarines, underwater tenders, deep tractors, robotic harvesters moved in and out of her portals. Some people lived nearly their entire lives under the sea. Everything was fine and the food flowed.

That was until 0600, the fifth of March 2044. A small quake was felt along the seafloor of the Challenger Deep. There had always been quakes here and MUFFI was designed to withstand them. But what is designed and what can really happen are two different things. There was a hairline crack in MUFFI's skin. A single sheet of water sliced down at thousands of pounds of pressure. It destroyed nine levels of living quarters, labs, work spaces and production lines in an instant. Fifteen thousand men, women and children ceased to exist in a split second. The automatic doors, hatches and vents slammed shut. Bulkheads buckled, door sprung open.

For fifteen seconds, MUFFI struggled to survive against the intruding water until she held it back. Now she struggled daily, a shadow of herself, but still putting protein out of her production lines. The workers stayed but paid a price. The equipment that filtered the hazardous byproducts of the production processes had been destroyed and could not be replaced. The staff of MUFFI worked in an increasingly toxic and hazardous environment.

The mazecar pulled into a platform in Molly. The seats unlocked and the door slid open. Kim and Ron pulled on their backpacks and stepped out. The air smelled of saltwater and fish. The sounds of creaking and groaning came to their ears. Kim slipped her gun into her pants and pulled her shirt down over it. Ron stepped over to a small port built into the side of the wall.

"Look! Fish!"

Kim stepped to his side and looked out. A large area was lit by bright lights. A large fish corral was being pulled into one of the processing doors. Divers in deep submergence suits guided the nets as them were pulled in.

"Where do we go now?" Kim asked.

Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know, Kim. Right now, I'm a little hungry and I'd like someone to take a look at that arm."

Kim rubbed the bandage wrapped around her arm.

"It's okay. Will's hurt me worse in training."

A door at the far end of the station slid open and a young woman in a diving suit stepped into the door. She motioned for the two of them to come over.

"I thought I heard a mazecar. I didn't know we were getting any new crew."

Ron shook his head.

"We're not crew." He pulled out the other ankh that he still had with him. The woman's eyes grew dark for a moment as she looked both of them over.

"Never heard of two at one time. Let me see."

Kim and Ron both raised their hand. The jewels in their palms were totally black now. The woman nodded.

"Blackee's come in the door and go out the port. Don't have any passkeys ready now. Weren't expecting nobody like you. I'll get ya someplace to hang your hammock. If ya wants some grog or scran, I can fix you up. Com'n. You'll have to pull KP till ya leave. You wants to eat and sleep, you gots to work."

Kim and Ron looked at each other. "What's 'KP'?"

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Ron had grown used to Kim's growling by the second meal after they had arrived. The woman had taken them through a myriad of corridors and hatches until they arrived at a door with a green number on it. She had given them time to put their packs in the room. It was small and had one bed. Ron glanced over at Kim, whose face rapidly changed to the hue of her hair. There was a single shower stall nestled in the rear wall right beside the single toilet. They changed into form-fitting suits similar to what the woman was wearing. After that they found out what "KP" was. It was an old term lost to many over the years. But the job was familiar to Ron since he cooked his own food most of the time. Kim had a harder time dealing with it. Washing dishes and scrubbing floors was something she had never seen done in their society of automated food. But here in MUFFI, the replicators for food would not function so the food had to be cooked and the pots, pans and kitchen had to be cleaned. No one stayed in MUFFI and not work.

Now they were back at their room after the last meal. Kim collapsed on the bed.

"I can't believe this place is so backward as to not have replicators. Just what were we cleaning up _from_? Oh, and I don't want to know what we _ate_."

Kim covered her mouth as she let out a small hiccup. She scowled as she waved at the air in front of her face.

"Gross, it tasted bad enough going down, do I have to taste it twice?"

Ron pulled her up to a sitting position and sat beside her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he began to massage her muscles, slowly working his way up and down her back. Kim closed her eyes and sighed. He was s-o-o-o-o good with his hands. All she needed to do now is get a shower… her eyes snapped open when she remembered their rooming arrangements: a single shower with a single toilet with a single bed. The shower only had a clear curtain to keep water out of the room.

"U-h-h-h, Ron? About our rooming arrangements…"

Ron pulled a towel from under the bed and handed to her. Then he reached into the bag and pulled out the open medical kit. Taking out two pads, he placed them over his eyes and wrapped them in some extra gauze.

"This okay?"

Kim giggled.

"Okay. But you'd better not peek or you _will_ be sorry."

Ron put his hand in the air.

"I won't touch a thing."

Kim leaned over, her face level with his.

"You'd_better_ not…," She held her place for a moment. The gauze covered his eyes, eyes that she had begun to love gazing into. Remaining there for a moment, a small smile crossed her face. "…or you won't get another one of _these_." Leaning forward she gently kissed his lips, as she pulled back she let her tongue gently grace his lips. A small smile was frozen on his face.

"B-O-O-O-Y-A-H-H-H-H!"

Kim grabbed a shirt from her pack and went to the shower. She started the water and let the water fall over her. She washed her hair and finished up her shower. Wrapping her hair in another towel, she stepped back over to the bed and sat down beside him. She pulled the gauze away from around his head and removed the pads.

"Okay. Your turn."

Kim placed the pads on her eyes and started to wrap the gauze around her head. Ron helped her wrap it around then grabbed his towel and a change of clothes. While Kim sat there she stared forward. She heard the curtain move and by habit looked over in the direction of the shower. Her face lit up like a blowtorch. _She could see through the gauze!_ She could not see clearly but she could see. _That_ meant… _Oh, he was__s-o-o-o-o busted!_

Ron came out of the shower rubbing his hair with a towel. Glancing over at Kim, he could see her looking directly at him with her arms crossed. Her look said it all. "O-h-h-h, boy," he thought. "She's realized about the gauze."

Stepping over to the bed, Ron leaned over and began to unwind the gauze and remove the pads. Two green eyes blazed back at him.

"You… you… little…," Her words were cut off as he gently kissed her. She shook her head.

"Don't think that a kiss will…," His hands began to knead her back.

"And don't think that just because there is only one bed that…"

Ron's kiss deepened as his hands moved lower.

Kim's hands came up before she realized they were even moving as they came down around his neck.

Ron pulled back and gazed into her eyes, a brilliant smile crossing his face. Kim smiled back.

"Enjoy the show?"

Ron placed his forehead against hers.

"I have not seen any work of art more beautiful. How about you?"

Kim growled as she leaned back on the bed pulling him with her.

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Kim head was pounding when she opened her eyes. Then she realized someone was pounding on the door to their room. Kim slid from underneath Ron's arm and from under the covers. She walked across the room and opened the hatch a crack.

"Yes?"

Another one of the staff of MUFFI stood outside the door.

"You two have duty in Processing Section Five. Get some breakfast and report."

Kim pulled the door open a little further. "But we aren't crew here."

The man shrugged. "You stay here, you work. Nothing's free here. Got complaints, go take a swim. Otherwise, get to work."

Kim shut the hatch and turned to face Ron. He was sitting up in the bed pulling his shirt on. Kim looked down at the red jersey that he had given her what seemed to be months ago. She motioned for him to turn around as she pulled a change of clothes out of the drawer in the room. It was another jumpsuit similar to the one she had worn the day before.

"Turn around and close those eyes so I can get dressed. After you get dressed, we'll get something to eat and find out how to get out of here."

Ron slid off the bed and pulled a jumpsuit on. As he was zipping it up there was a knock at the hatch. Kim opened the door and the woman they met the day before stepped in the room. She handed Kim two plastic cards.

"These are the passkeys to the next stage. There's something going on. We don't know what yet but something big happened in the city. Something that has all the Sandmen really worked up. You two don't know anything about it, do you?"

Kim and Ron looked at each other and then back at the women, shaking their heads.

"No, we don't know anything."

The woman turned and left the room. Ron stuffed the passkeys in the pocket of his jumpsuit.

"Let's get something to eat and get ready to leave. We can catch a mazecar to the next stop."

Ron packed all of his clothes into his backpack and helped Kim do the same. Kim could not find a good way to hide her DS gun, so she stuffed it in her pack as they finished up. Ron pulled open the hatch and they stepped out into the passageway. Working their way back toward the mazecar platform, they carefully avoided the pools of water that leaked onto the floor in places. They stopped at another hatch. Ron spun the handle and pulled the hatch open. Kim moved forward to step through the hatch when she noticed the passageway was blocked by a dark form. Ron screeched and jumped back.

Standing in the hatchway was something that defied description. The figure glanced back on forth between the two of them.

"Well, well. Two new sqweebs. Let me introduce myself. My name's Will, but you can call me Gill."

Kim thought the name fit the description of the person well. He stood at least six feet tall and was wearing a long old-fashioned rain slicker. His body was bloated and covered in scales. His face and body were a sickly green hue. His head was oblong and hanging from the underside of his cheeks were what could only be described as gills.

Gill snickered at their expressions.

"Like my body? This is what happens when you stay here too long. I was like you once, but I was at my station in the Processing Plant when a pipe blew. I was covered in some real nasty hazardous goo, right along with the remains of the fish processor. This is what happened. It's pretty cool actually. I can swim outside and work and not have to have scuba gear. I can dive deep and not worry about the pressure. Everybody here leaves me alone."

Gill wiped an arm across his face. Green ooze fell from his arm and landed with a splat on the floor. He stepped through the hatch toward them.

"I learn a lot of things swimming around out there. I can listen in when no one thinks I'm there. I can get all the big news by sneaking into the computer area. Just like I have learned that two certain runners escaped from New Middleton. Seems that they killed a Sandman and that has really upset all the Sandmen. It also seems that one of the runners is a Sandman themselves. So their lives are pretty much void."

Gill stared directly at Kim as he continued to move forward. Kim and Ron kept backing up and started to look for a way to run. Gill smiled as he stopped and started to stand taller.

"You know, it gets lonely being like this. There's no one like me."

He snapped his head forward.

_G-r-r-a-a-w-w-w-l-l-l-o-o-o-p-p! G-r-r-a-a-w-w-w-l-l-l-o-o-o-p-p!_

Kim and Ron were each hit by a huge wad of goo. Ron was plastered on one of the walls. Kim fell to the floor wrapped from her shoulders to her knees in the goo. Ron struggled to free himself from the sticky liquid as Gill stepped over to pick Kim up.

"PUT ME DOWN YOU REJECT FROM THE FISH FACTORY! JUST LET ME GET MY HANDS FREE AND mmppfff…"

Gill slapped his hand across Kim's mouth, sealing it shut with a swath of goo.

"A little piece and quiet will be nice. You'll change your tune after a little trip through one of the processing vats. Your red hair will really compliment your green skin after it's all over."

Kim's eyes bulged as she struggled against the goo that entombed her. Gill tossed her over one of his shoulders and turned to face Ron.

"Say goodbye to your girly. No need to stay when you get free, by then she'll be swimming outside with me. So be a good little runner and run on. Don't worry about her. If the Sandmen show up they'll just leave her alone, but you'd better keep running."

Gill turned and slithered back through the hatch door closing it behind him. Ron struggled to free himself. The goo stretched with him as he kept pulling at it. But it was too strong for him to break.

"Rufus, you there little buddy?"

Rufus popped out of the pocket of Ron's pack. He saw Ron, ran and climbed up on him. Rufus started to chew on the goo. He stopped and started to spit the taste out of his mouth.

"Sorry," he squeaked.

Ron thought for a moment.

"Rufus! My special sauce! In my pack! Get it!"

Rufus's eyes grew large and he shook his head.

"Uh-uh!"

Ron nodded toward his pack.

"Come_on_, Rufus. Kim risked everything to save me. Now get the sauce!"

Rufus ran down Ron's leg and crawled into the back pack. Within seconds he crawled back out carrying a sealed container. A smile crossed Ron's face.

"B-o-o-o-y-a-h-h-h!"

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Kim struggled against the goo surrounding her. Gill had carried her down several passageways, going deeper and deeper into the bowels of the plant. Fluids of different types dripped from pipes. The floors were covered in multi-colored hues of colors as the fluids mixed and flowed. Gill briefly freed her arms only to stick them together over her head.

Pulling a cargo hook from its craned, Gill grabbed a strand of goo out and hung Kim by her bound hands. She twisted her hands, trying to free herself. Her feet and legs were glued together by the goo as she hung in the air.

Gill also removed the goo covering Kim's mouth.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

Gill didn't answer as he lumbered over to a large sealed vat. Undogging the clamps on the lid, he pressed a button on a control panel and the lid slid to the side. Kim stared down at the viscous, bubbling fluid below. She started to kick back and forth, causing her swing. Gill muttered some words under his breath. Stepping over to a cabinet, he pulled out a chunk of metal. He pulled Kim over him and attached the weight to her feet. Kim gasped as the extra weight pulled on her arms.

"That'll keep you still and help you sink in that stuff. It's kinda thick."

Kim glared back down at him.

"Do you really think I'm gonna …?"

Gill stared back up at her.

"You'll do exactly what I tell you. You see, I've mixed in a few of my own little additives. After a nice, long dunk, you'll do what I want."

"You… you monster! R-O-O-N-N-N! H-E-E-L-P-P-P!"

Gill just shook his head.

"Scream all you want. That squeeb is still stuck to the wall back there. It'll be another hour or so before he can get free. By then you'll be nice and green. It's not easy being green, but it's a life."

Gill took a control box into his claws and pressed several buttons. The hook started to swing over the vat. Kim looked down into the vat as he pressed another button. The hook started to lower. Kim pulled at the goo over her hands and tried to swing her feet but the weight was too much.

Gill let the control fall to the floor as he crossed his arms.

"Struggle all you want. It won't matter. You'll get your dip nice and slow. At first it'll be nice and warm, but then it'll start to burn. It'll fell like your skin is coming off. As more and more of you gets dunked, it'll burn more and more. Soon you'll be in it up to your head. Then your pretty little mouth and head will be under. You'll try and hold your breath but the pain will be too great and you'll scream. Then you'll inhale the goo, you'll swallow some and it'll fill your lungs. You'll pass out. When you wake up, it'll all be over. And you'll be _just like me_."

"FAT CHANCE, FISHLIPS!"

Gill whirled around to catch a kick to the face. He fell back onto the floor with a crash. Ron grabbed the control from the floor and started to press buttons. The hook and chain stopped and started to rise.

_G-r-r-a-a-w-w-w-l-l-l-o-o-o-p-p!_

Ron ducked as a glob of goo flew over his head. Gill charged as Ron turned and ran. Gill stopped for a moment to press a button on the control. Kim started to lower again. There was a crash behind him and he whirled only to catch a stream of water in the chest. The concussion of the water knocked him across the floor and pinned him against the wall. Ron stood holding the heavy water hose as he directed the stream of water. Edging over, he stood over the control box. Reaching down, he started to press buttons as he kept the stream of water on Gill. One button caused the hook to lower faster. Kim screamed as he rapidly pressed more buttons. The hook jerked to a stop with Kim's toes just inches above the goo. She opened her eyes as Ron found another button that raised the chain and started the hoist to turn. Kim moved to the side and soon was not hanging over the vat.

"Go, Rufus!"

Rufus hopped off of Ron's shoulder and took the control from Ron. He jumped up and down on several buttons and lowered Kim to the floor. As Kim collapsed to the floor he ran over carrying a package. He poured a thick red liquid on the goo. It melted the goo on contact. Rufus keep spreading the red stuff until she was free. Kim rubbed her ankles and wrists as she stood up. The stream of water holding Gill started to weaken. Gill's eyes were red with hate as he forced his way to a standing position.

"So, you got your girlie back. I don't know how you got loose but the game's over."

Gill pulled back his head as he readied to spit more goo. Ron glanced over to where Rufus stood on top of a nearby cabinet.

"Rufus! Fastball!"

Rufus dropped the package he had been holding and stomped on it. A stream of red fluid flew out and right into Gill's mouth. Gill stopped and started to strangle. His face started to turn a strange color of red and green. He gasped and gagged as he stumbled across the floor. Screaming, he disappeared into the darkness of the factory.

Kim looked up at Ron.

"What_was_ that stuff? It melted the goo, and stopped him in his tracks."

Ron rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, it's just a little invention of mine. It's a special hot sauce mix that I made up. I call it Diablo Sauce."

Ron held up the used packet that Rufus had used to her nose. She gasped and snapped her head back as her eyes started to water.

"Remind me not to try that."

She stopped and looked up at him. His hair was soaked, he was covered in mud and grime, and he smelled like a pile of dead fish. She pulled him down and gave him a slow kiss. After a moment she pulled back.

"That's all you're getting until you get a shower."

Ron grinned as he looked down at her.

"You want to wear the same pads and gauze?"

Kim took his arm with a little purr and a smile that seemed to light up the room.

"Only if _you_ want to."

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Will grimaced as he stepped from the mazecar. He glanced around at the surroundings with distain. The hatch at the far end opened and a woman stepped onto the platform. Her eye grew large when she recognized the uniform of a Sandman. Will pulled his commscan from his belt and activated it. The screen shimmered for a moment then filled with static. With a muted curse he turned off the device and stuffed it back on his belt. He pointed at the woman.

"You! I'm looking for two runners. A red-haired girl and blonde-haired boy. Have you seen them?"

The woman nodded.

"I've seen them. But I don't know where they are."

A klaxon alarm sounded. The woman started to stare up at the alarm.

Will glared back at her.

"What's that?"

The woman stared wide-eyed back at Will.

"It's a general alarm. Something's gone wrong in the Processing Area."

Will's face turned grim.

"It's the two of them. It's _got_ to be. That blonde-haired one-man wrecking crew and that amateur wannabe. " He grabbed the woman by the arm.

"Take me to the main control center."

She nodded and led him through the hatch she came had emerged from. The hatch slammed shut behind them. Above the hatch the grill of the air vent started to shake. It would have fallen to the floor had not a small feminine hand caught it before it fell too far. Kim slid from the air vent and landed on her feet. She quietly laid the vent screen on the floor. Ron slid headfirst out of the vent and came crashing to the floor with a thud. Sitting upright, he rubbed his head as Kim looked down at him.

"Sorry, I'm not as graceful as you are."

Kim took his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Remind me not to try any of that sauce of yours. I could deal with it melting the goo and making Gill run for cover. But if you can dissolve rust and loosen screws on a vent cover with it, I don't want to think about what it would do to my stomach."

Ron gave her a sour look.

"Hey! Don't diss the Ronman's Diablo Sauce! It's one of my greatest creations!"

Kim giggled.

"Well, Ronman, we need to get out of here before Will realizes that we're still here. Do you have the new passkeys?"

Ron nodded and pulled them from his pocket. Kim took one and put it in the mazecar slot. Minutes later a mazecar slid to a stop. They boarded the car and shut the hatch. Ron put the other passkey in the slot on the control panel of the car. The car beeped for a moment then started off. Kim and Ron relaxed as the car sped away from MUFFI.

Deep within the control systems of MUFFI, a leak dripped water onto some control wires. The salt in the water had slow corroded the armoring of the cable way. The water dripped into the conduit and flowed onto some wires below. A spark flared as the wires shorted out. In the main control, the destination of the last mazecar that left MUFFI was scrambled. The car missed its turn as the computer tried to figure out where to send it next. It found a place and the car hurtled toward its destination. Inside, Kim started to properly thank Ron for his actions of the day.  
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Will stared at the screen in the main control. He watched as the mazecar disappeared from the screen due to a power surge. The screen filled with static. When it cleared, the signal for the maze car was gone. Will hissed at the controller.

"Can you tell where that car's going?"

The nervous white-faced technician had to retype the trace commands three times before getting them correct. He didn't want up upset the Sandman standing over him. The screen blinked a couple of times then cleared. The technician pointed to the screen.

"The trace isn't great. The power surge messed up the records for where the car is headed. Here's a list of six or seven possible destinations. Most are pretty normal. But these two I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. If those two runners end up at either you won't have to worry about getting them. They're sure as dead if they end up either place."

Will grinned.

"Yeah. Maybe so. But _I_ won't have killed them, and _that_ makes _all_ the difference."

Will strode out of the control center heading for mazecar station. He had a feeling about where those two were going to end up. He was heading the same way. He would follow them to Hell if he had to.

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Hope you enjoyed this installment of Kimberly's Run. They are away from the city now with Will hot on their trail. There are dangers in front of them and behind them.

Here is a little explanation for what the lady from MUFFI said to Kim and Ron. "Hang your Hammock" means a place to sleep. Grog is something to drink and Scran is something to eat. All these are old time nautical terms. Since MUFFI is under the ocean it would seem that the people working there might speak like that.

Sorry about being gone for so long. Many things have been happening around here and 90 of them were not good. I also got bit by the drawing/picture bunny. Take a look at my DeviantArts page. Go to my author page then click on the homepage link. That will take you to my main DA page.

Some of you know from my DA page that a few weeks ago we found out that my son has developed a heart problem. It leaves him very tired and unable to do some things. It was confirmed today that it is the heart muscle. Exactly what the problem is they do not know at this point. So if I disappear from time to time I think you will understand. I am working on the next Mythbusters right now.

Thanks.

The Captain

Please leave a review. I would appreciate it.


	9. Chapter 8 There is a Chill in the Air

**Kimberly's Run  
Chapter Eight  
There is a Chill in the Air  
By Captainkodak1**

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Ron shook his head and raised his hands to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. The mazecar was still traveling at cruising speed. He had no idea where they were going or how long it would take to get there. The controls had sparked just as they left MUFFI and the mazecar snapped into a series of quick turns. The turns had thrown the two of them back and forth across the cabin. Finally, the car settled down on one track and they were able to get back in their seats.

Kim had taken Ron's face in her hands and started to leave kisses all over his neck leading to his lips. Reaching his lips, she started to slowly kiss him harder and harder, her arms coming down around his neck as she slipped into his lap. His arm came up to gently pull her to him. They relaxed and soon dozed off in each other's arms. Over time they had slid across the seat with Kim lying on top of Ron, a contented smile on her face.

A beep from the control panel caught Ron's attention. The mazecar was started to slow down as it approached their next stop. He shook Kim's arm.

"Kim? Kim? It looks like we're getting ready to stop."

Kim opened her eyes and looked around.

"Do you have any idea of where we are?"

Ron shook his head.

"Nope. Let's get our gear together so we can get off when the car stops. Is it me or is it getting a little colder?"

Kim rubbed her arm. Now that Ron had mentioned it, the temperature did seem to be dropping. Fast. She glanced around at their packs and supplies. There was not so much as a coat between them. There were a couple of emergency survival blankets but nothing they could really use.

The mazecar bumped a little as it slowed even more. Kim could see a light shining up ahead. Both of them stood and picked up their packs. The car pulled into the station. Through the mazecar windows they noticed the station walls were covered with frost. As they stepped from the car, it immediately whooshed off into the tube..

Kim checked her DS gun in her pack. They didn't know who they would meet but anyone who saw her carrying a DS gun might not welcome them with open arms. They stood around for a few minutes waiting to see if anyone would come to meet them. After awhile, Ron just shrugged his shoulders and picked up his pack. Kim put on hers and they headed up the stairs. The air kept getting colder and colder as they climbed the stairs. Reaching the top stair, they stepped out from the opening into snow. More snow was falling in sheets. They stared about in shock. Behind them, a steel door slammed shut, cutting them off from reentering the staircase.

Ron started to pull the emergency blankets from their packs and handed one to Kim. They wrapped the foil-like devices around themselves.

Ron turned to Kim.

"Do you think that your gun could blast through the door before we freeze to death?"

Kim closely examined the door, shook her head and then pointed out into the falling snow.

"I don't think so. Anyway, I don't think that's our _biggest_ problem."

Ron stared back at Kim,

"What do you _mean_? If we don't get undercover or get some heat, we're going to be…"

Ron's voice tapered off as his eyes followed where Kim was pointing.

A semicircle of dark figures appeared from out of the falling snow. Dressed in heavy furs and boots, some carried long knives while a couple of other carried spears. The main figure in the center of the semicircle came forward. The figure's hands came up and pulled the hood off. A rugged, wrinkled face stared at them. The right side of the man's face was covered in scar tissue. His eyes surveyed Kim and Ron. Slowly, a grin spread across his face.

"You can call me 'Warden'. Welcome to Hell."

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Will went over the extra equipment that he had taken from MUFFI. Not many people used this type of equipment while at MUFFI, but it was held in supply when someone in the unit had to travel to an area where it might be needed. The heavy parka and pants, insulated boots and gloves were going to be needed at one of the destinations where he was heading. The first destination was in New Greenland. Not much was there, mainly some weather stations, and robofarms. If Kim and Ron were there, they would most likely find help. If you continued to make trouble in this society, you were sent to cool your heels and serve the society that you were against. New Greenland was not that cold but it could get cold, plus running there could cut a runner off as there were only a few mazecar stations. There were also those ready to sell out anyone to get out of there.

Will picked up the chart the technician had given him as he left. His eyes crossed the second destination and he frowned. If those two ended up there he would really need the cold weather gear. This station might was well be a dead end, "dead" being the operative word. No one choose to go to station AlphaCharlie235. You were sent to that station. This station was above the Arctic Circle. The worst of the worst were sent there. Once you received a death sentence, you were given the choice of death or a one way trip to AlphaCharlie235. Just about everyone called it by another name. Will promised himself he would chase those two to hell and back if he had to. It looked like he just might get the chance. This chase was rapidly turning into a ride to Hell.

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Ron stepped back under the overhang. Kim let her hands hang free along her sides as she faced the figure. The emergency blanket blew off her shoulders and up under the overhang. Ron grabbed it and held onto it. Kim watched as the figure stalked the two of them. The cold was already making her shiver.

"Where are the keys?"

Warden slipped a shiv from his sleeve and kept his distance from Kim while keeping an eye on Ron. He laughed at her question.

"Keys? Don't need no keys here. When you come to Hell, they throw the keys away."

Kim blinked. This place had been part of a briefing she had received a few months ago; the escape-proof prison of the frozen north. They were in one of the worst spots on the planet.

Warden took a couple of steps back.

"You are here now, whatever the reason. Come learn the rules."

The snow began to clear and the sun shown down to light the area in a brilliant white. Kim and Ron tried to cover their eyes against the glare as they trudged behind the man. Snow crept into their shoes as their feet began to numb from the cold. The other figures filed in behind the two new arrivals. Warden passed by a hole that had been dug into the ice and snow. The entrance was soaked red. Warden shook his head and turned back to Kim and Ron as he pointed to the red-stained snow.

"Harry didn't always play by the rules. He kept trying to escape instead of trying to live. He stressed himself too much and started coughing up blood. He didn't last long."

Warden came to a stop in the middle of a level area of snow. Kim could see a number of holes dug into the surrounding snow. Warden pointed to the holes and the other figures standing about.

"Your neighbors. We's got three rules. One, a new arrival draws the rock; the rock says who you fight. Two: the antagonist can use any weapon he has to defend himself and his goods. Three: the new man fights barehanded. That's all the rules we got, except the winner gets first cut. Since there is two of you, you each fight."

Kim shook her head.

"What if I say he's with me?"

Warden shook his head.

"If you arrive together, you fights together."

Ron stepped up next to Kim and took her hand.

"And if we don't fight?"

Warden grinned.

"Then you dies together right here on the ice. You better hurry and make up your minds. You aren't going to last much longer out here dressed like that."

Ron looked around at the figures and swallowed.

"Let's get it over with."

He turned to KP.

"I love you. After this is over, try and find a way out."

Kim held on to Ron.

"Hang on as long as you can. I'll try and beat mine quick and help you."

She turned to Warden.

"I take it that there are no rules against us helping each other."

Warden shook his head.

"Four goes into the ring; two come out."

He pulled a leather bag out of his pocket and opened the drawstrings.

"Pull your rock."

Kim reached in the bag, pulled out a rock and handed it to Warden. He took a look at it and smiled.

"Andy."

A thin figure stepped up and pulled back its hood. A woman's face came into view. The hair was done in an older fad style.

"Freaky!"

Warden turned to Ron.

"Pull your rock!"

Ron stuck in his hand, pulled out a rock and handed it to Warden. He glanced at the rock.

"Shaun."

A smaller figure advanced pulling back his hood.

"A-w-w-w-w-w. The skinny dude has to fight me. You know, you remind me of someone in my school. I took my time letting him die slow."

Warden stepped back as the others formed a circle. Kim and Ron set themselves back-to-back. Warden looked at Andy and Shaun.

"Pick your weapons."

Andy reached into her boot and pulled out a thin stiletto. Shaun pulled a double-headed ice axe from his belt. The two of them approached Kim and Ron, their weapons drawn. Kim and Ron stayed back to back, facing their opponents. Andy drove forward, slashing at Kim while, at the same instance, Shaun swiped at Ron.

Kim waited and then grabbed Andy's wrist as she spun out of the way. She brought her elbow up, driving it into Andy's face. The satisfying crunch of a good hit came to her ears. Kim continued to spin as she gripped Andy's arm. Kim used her momentum to throw Andy over her shoulder and onto the ice. Andy screamed as she landed on the ice. She switched her knife back and forth from hand to hand. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Kim.

"There are only a few people who can make moves like that. I think I got me a…"

Kim did a handspring forward and completed a legsweep. Andy's legs were cut out from under her and her words were lost to the wind as she crashed to the ice. She slashed out again with her knife and barely missed cutting Kim across her stomach. Andy slid to her feet and again advanced toward Kim.

"Good move, but not good enough. How about your friend there? How long do you think he's going to last. He doesn't look like he'll last long. After Shaun guts him, I'm sure he'll share with me. Just like I'll share with him after I leave your guts on the ice."

Kim kept her eyes on her assailant. She wanted to look over to see what was happening to Ron but that was exactly what Andy wanted. Kim hoped with all her soul that he was alright. She didn't think she could go on if Ron was killed.

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Ron backed up as his shorter opponent approached. His eyes were fixed on the ice ax Shaun carried. It had been modified. The pick had been ground down extra sharp. The other edge had been completely ground down to a gleaming edge. Either end would be decidedly uncomfortable if he got hit by it.

Shaun grinned wickedly as he moved forward, flipping the axe between his hands. He slashed at Ron once and then made a backhand slash. The thin spike tore through Ron's shirtfront, ripping it away. The surrounding crowd cheered.

Ron slipped back as he continued to retreat. He scooped up a handful of snow and waited. Shaun leapt forward again, slashing in an underhand motion. Ron tried to get out of the way but slipped and fell. As he fell, he fired the snowball with all his might at Shaun's face, hitting him right between the eyes. Shaun stumbled and glanced down. A chunk of ice that had been in the center of the snowball was coated with his blood. He glared up at Ron. Ron smiled back at him.

"O-o-o-o, did I put that chunk of ice in that snowball? My bad."

Shaun screamed and charged at Ron as he brought his axe high in the air. Ron backpedaled to get away but once again slipped on the ice and fell. Shaun dove on top of him, extending his axe to pin Ron to the ice.

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Kim heard the scream and chanced a glance toward Ron. She saw Shaun leap at Ron as he brought down the adze edge toward Ron's chest. That was all that Andy was waiting for. The moment Kim was distracted, she tackled Kim into the snow.

Kim felt Andy slam into her chest and then into the snow. Stunned from the blow, she found herself with her face being ground into the snow. Andy had her wrists up behind her back and pinned with her leg. Kim thought her back would break when Andy gripped her forehead with her hand and pulled Kim's head back.

"Well now. I think I'll let you see your boyfriend's guts spill out on the ice. But don't worry, 'cause I'm going to slit your throat while you watch."

Kim whimpered as she watched Shaun struggle with Ron on the ice then both of them stopped moving. Shaun struggled to stand over the motionless Ron. Andy giggled as she leaned forward.

"Looks like my loverboy just took care of yours. You ready to die? I'll make sure you go nice and slow."

Kim watched as Ron began to move. Andy gasped.

"W-h-a-a-a…?"

Shaun stumbled back another step and turned to face Andy and Kim. The spike end of his ice axe was embedded in his chest. He stood there for a moment, and then opened his mouth to speak. A dribble of blood oozed out and he collapsed face forward into the snow and lay still. Ron got up and brushed the snow out of his hair. Andy whimpered and Kim made her move. Flexing her arms, legs and back at the same time, she knocked Andy off her back. Kim snap-kicked to a standing position and faced her.

Andy's face was livid with rage. She flipped the knife in her hand and with a scream launched herself at Kim. Kim waited for her to come then stepped inside of the knife lunge. Deflecting the knife, she drove the heel of her palm into Andy's face. There was a crunch as the bones of Andy's nose were driven into her brain. She took a few steps forward then fell face first into the snow.

"Kim!"

Kim turned to face Ron and felt her ribs nearly being crushed by his hug. She returned the hug with the same force. The two of them stood there for a moment holding onto each other until they realized that Warden was standing there watching them.

"Four entered; two leave. You gets their stuff."

Two of the others came up and dropped two bundles of clothes at their feet. Kim and Ron realized that Andy and Shaun had been stripped and their clothes were at their feet. They bent over and started to put on the heavy clothing that they had just inherited. Ron left the bloodstained shirt with the hole in it. His shirt for the most part was okay. Kim pulled on Andy's boots and finally started to feel warm. She noticed Ron was watching what the others were doing and saw his face turn white.

"Ron? What's wrong? What….?"

Kim turned to see what Ron was watching and literally felt herself turn green. She turned her head away as Ron joined her. Both of them turned away. In a few minutes, two of the other people came and lay two parcels in front of them and walked away. Warden stood over them.

"You get the best cuts. But since there were two down, we split up the good cuts of meat."

Kim pulled back the fur package and forced down the bile that was rising in her throat. Before them in the fur packages lay what had to be the upper thigh of one of Andy's legs and the heart and liver of Shaun. Warden pointed over at a hole carved into the snow and ice.

"That there is the hole they shared. It's yours now."

Ron swallowed hard.

"Is there any food in there?"

Warden raised an eyebrow.

"Food? You have the best food right in front of you. Now, the sun is going down. You best get in your hole. No one can survive in the night. We will speak in the morning."

Kim paled as Ron picked up the package at their feet.

"Well, I thought I could cook anything but this is too much even for me.. Let's get undercover and see what we can do. There's some of those rations in our bags. That should cover us for awhile."

Kim nodded and led the way to the cave. Crawling inside, they found a somewhat roomy space dug into the ice and snow. Andy and Shaun had used whatever they could find to insulate the space and create a living space. There was a ledge along one wall were there was some more food, mostly frozen fish and some other meat. Along the back wall was another ledge piled deep in furs. There was a leather rope spanning the space with more furs hanging from it. Kim noticed that if you pulled the furs across on the leather rope that it roomed off the sleeping area like curtains. There were a couple of small fires burning in lamps made of shells or carved out rocks. It was not frigid in the room but it was cold

Ron dropped his package on the ledge with the other food and laid Shaun's ice axe and Andy's knife along side of it. Kim dropped their packs in the sleeping area and waited for Ron to enter before she pulled the fur drapes closed. The flickering of the lamps gave a strange jumpy light to the room. Ron pulled up his shirt to examine his stomach. There was a shallow cut from one side to the other. Kim found the first-aid kit, pulled out a tube of anesti-skin and applied the synthetic skin to the cut. The substance spread out, covering the cut and soothing the pain. Kim pulled another shirt for him out of his pack and helped him to change. They stripped out of the heavy furs and slipped under the furs on the sleeping ledge. Their bodies soon warmed the space under the furs and soon they feel into a deep sleep.

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Kim shaded her eyes as she and Ron emerged from their hidehole into the full sun of the day. Warden stepped over to them.

"I sees you're making yourselves at home. Maybe you'll survive for a little while, at least until the next convict shows up and one of you has to fight them."

Ron shook his shoulders to get the furs to fit better.

"Dude, we aren't planning on staying. We've got to find some food and be on our way."

Warden laughed.

"_Be on your way_? Just where do you think you're _going_? As for food, you _gots_ food. If you don't like that, then I guess you can try and find Box."

Kim pulled her hood back a bit to talk to Warden.

"Who's Box?"

Warden shrugged.

"Don't know if you would say he's more an 'it' than a man. He got caught in some machinery at a robofactory. There was no else around. The mechdoctors tried to put him back together. Well, they didn't have much to work with, but they put what they could find back together and then made up the rest. He's more machine and computer than man. If you can find him, maybe he'll help you. I wouldn't count on it, though."

Kim faced Warden.

"We'll take our chances. Where do we find this Box?"

Warden pointed to a tall spire of ice in the distance.

"They say he stays around the spire of ice. Very few people have seen him and even fewer have lived to say they've seen him. If you leave the compound, you forfeit your place. If you come back you'll have to fight to get it back."

Kim turned to look at the spire in the distance.

"We can't stay here, so we won't be coming back. Come on, Ron. Let's get ready."

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Kim's feet like blocks of ice. The cold seemed to penetrate even the heavy fur clothes that she was wearing. The snowshoes they found in the hidehole enabled them to make better time but the spire was further than they thought. It was twilight now and they could still see the spire growing closer. They had picked up all that they thought they would need and carry from the hidehole. Ron had checked the frozen fish and selected the best cuts. At least they had some real food even if it was frozen and raw. Kim stretched out her hand to make sure Ron was behind her. They took turns breaking the trail through the snow. Kim felt Ron's mitten pat her on the shoulder. He still had her back.

Snow started to fall and the wind began to pick up. Soon they could not see where they were going. Ron tapped Kim on the back again and she turned to face him.

"How are we going to tell where we're going? We can't see _anywhere_ in this snow."

Kim snuggled against him.

"I don't know. We can just try and keep going straight." Kim stopped speaking for a moment.

"Wait. I have an idea."

Kim pulled out her backpack and opened a side pocket. Reaching inside, she pulled out a tube that was about two feet long and three inches in diameter. Depressing a button caused the tube to extend to about eight feet in length.

"If we drag this behind us, it'll keep us going relatively straight."

Ron nodded and took the poll from her.

"I'll take the next front shift."

Before Kim could say anything, Ron stepped off in front of her. She stood there for a few moments until the rope that tied them together became taut and tugged her forward. She trudged on behind Ron into the snowy twilight.

Ron kept going. He had lost the feeling in his feet hours before. Now he hoped that they could get under cover at the spire before they froze to death. He held his head down, staring off to the south just in front of his feet. The pole behind him kept him on a straight trail. Something smacked him on the head. He stopped and looked up. In the low light of twilight he could see a smooth wall of sheer ice. Kim stepped up beside him. Icicles hung from the fur around her face, but the two bright green eyes stared back at him.

"We made it."

Ron started feeling to the right and found what appeared to be an opening. Together they slipped inside. Kim pulled a light wand from her pack and turned it on. The wand illuminated a narrow hallway of ice with a rock floor. They slowly walked forward following the narrow path. The light shone on a heavy metal hatch. Grabbing the handle, Ron pulled it open and Kim stepped inside. He followed her, pulling the hatch closed behind him.

It was cool inside but not as cold as outside the hatch. The room was illuminated by a strange light that shown through panels of ice. They stepped into the room and followed a side hall. Sculptured creatures of various types and sizes lined the wall and hung from the ceiling. A polar bear stood menacing a seal and arctic birds flew above their heads. They marveled at the ice sculptures; they looked so real. Along the halls were also sculptures of men and women, some together and some alone. Each figure looked as if it could talk.

Kim examined one closely.

"Ron, someone has a serious talent here. I wonder where he got the ideas for so many figures."

"Talent? A-h-h-h! Someone who appreciates art for the sake of art."

Kim and Ron jumped at the sound of the voice. Behind them stood something they could not imagine. It was a man and it was a machine. Half of his face was shining metal with a glowing eye. One arm was normal, but the other was metal. His chest was normal, but below the waist was all metal. The face pulled into a smile.

"Greetings, visitors. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Box."

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Greetings one and all. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I hope that you also enjoyed this continuation of Kim's Run. They seem to be jumping from one fire to another. Now they are facing the creature known as "Box". Will is still after them.

Please leave a review. I would appreciate it.

The Captain


	10. Chapter 9 Box's Art

**Kimberly's Run****  
****Chapter Nine  
By Captainkodak1**

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Kim and Ron snuggled down into a pile of soft, clean furs. For the first time in days they had full stomachs, were warm and were resting with ease. Box was the consummate host. He had given them some food before showing them to a room built into the rock face of this place where he lived.

They were not so sure he lived more than he existed. Ron had been able to cook the food given to them. It wasn't perfect but it was filling. Kim was now convinced that Ron could make anything taste good. Right now, though, they were exhausted. She curled up next to him, placed her head on his shoulder and sighed. They had been on the run now for several days. Ron had shown that he was more than able to hold his own, but right now that didn't matter to her. This was where she wanted to be.

Ron's arm came down around Kim's smooth shoulders and she purred in contentment. Her right hand started to move up on down his chest. He was not heavily muscled but what he had was nice and smooth. He gently kissed her on the top of her head. A small smile crossed her face as she lifted herself up to gaze into his eyes. Ron grinned that little grin that she had grown to love. Tilting her head, she gently gave him a kiss, then a longer one. After that, neither one of them counted the number of kisses, nor their length. They did not hear the clanking or see the glowing eye and normal eye looking at them from a hidden slot in the wall.

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Will's mazecar pulled into the station and stopped. He opened the clamshell door and stepped out onto the landing. Frost covered the walls. Will touched the control to his warmsuit. This should be easy. He would go up and recover the corpses of the idiot cook and that incompetent girl who thought she was a Sandman. The "prisoners" would recognize him as a Sandman and give him the respect he was due. They would answer him and give him the cooperation he demanded. After all, he was a Sandman and they were vermin. They were tossed aside to this place because they could not function in a proper society. He would be sure to put them in their place when he got up there.

Stuffing his DS gun in his holster, Will started up the stairs.

The bright sun caught him off guard for a moment until the autosunglasses slid out of his hood and covered his eyes. The door sealed behind him but he didn't care. He had the codes to open the door. He looked around and noticed the open area in front of him. There appeared to be a circle of holes surrounding the central area. A group of figures emerged from the caves. One of them approached him.

"I'm looking two people. One is a girl with red hair; the other is a man with blonde hair."

The figure approached Will and pulled back the hood. A rugged, wrinkled face stared at him. The right side of the man's face was covered in scar tissue. His eyes surveyed Will. A hostile grin crossed the man's face.

"Why should I help _you_, Sandman?"

Will faced the man with his hand on his gun.

"Yes, I _am_ a Sandman, so you_will_ answer the question. Have you seen the two I'm looking for?"

Warden grinned at Will.

"I'd tell you to go to Hell but that's where you already are. You gots no power _here_, Sandman."

Will noticed that the others were closing on him in a semicircle. He stepped out from under the overhang and pulled the gun free from its holster.

"I've got all the power I need_right here_. I'm William and I can kill you for not answering me immediately. But, I'm feeling gracious. Tell me what I want to know and I'll leave you alone."

Warden smiled.

"That would be hard to do without your gun."

"Wha…?" Will said.

A thin shadow came down from above. Will barely heard the flick and crack of the twisted leather whip that snatched the gun from his hand. He spun to look up and saw one of the others standing on the top of the overhang. His gun was sitting in his hands. Will turned to see the others moving in.

"Well, we gots us a Sandman who thinks he's somebody. Sorry to tell you, Sandman, but we only got three rules here."

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Kim opened her eyes and stretched her arms above her head. Reaching underneath the furs, she pulled down her tank top which had ridden up over the night. She blushed slightly as she recalled the activity that caused it to ride up. The other part of her outfit was still in the correct place. The fur bed they were in was soft and comfortable. Getting up and out of it was not what she wanted to do, but they had to keep moving. Stopping too long on one place could lead to disaster. She rolled over to look at Ron. He had his arm curled up behind his pillow. Reaching out with her hand, she twirled some of his hair. She had this strange feeling about him, a feeling she could not place it. She had never heard anyone talk about how she felt. Just thinking of Ron made her heart race. A warm feeling came over her just being with him, and when he touched her, a warm rush came over her entire body. The word "love" came to mind, but what she felt for Ron was so far above anything she had ever thought possible.

Kim turned and crawled out from under the furs. She stepped onto the floor of furs and stepped over to where her pack was. As she bent over to reach inside her back, low wolf whistle came from the direction of the bed. She spun around to see Ron propped up on the bed, a big grin on his face.

"Now I could get used to getting up to _that_ view."

She sauntered over to the bed and crossed over to him on her knees. She slowly approached Ron until their foreheads were touching. She turned her head to the side and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"And it's all for _you_. "

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They got up, dressed and started looking for their host. So far the strange being had been considerate, even friendly. But this world had already shown the two of them that looks could be deceiving and problems could appear from around any corner. They found a mazecar station.

Kim knelt, studied the controls and shook her head.

"I can't do a thing. Without knowing where we need to go, a mazecar is useless. We need to know what the next stop is. Didn't Ballard ever tell you where you needed to go?"

Ron shook his head.

"Nope. No one except Ballard knows all the stops. That way if one of them is caught by the Sand… if one of them is caught then all they know is one stop."

Kim stood and took Ron's hand. As they walked through the corridors, more and more works of ice art appeared. Some were of animals or birds, but most were people, both men and women. Some fought other people; others fought animals.

"A-h-h-h, my guests. I hope that the two of you had a good rest. I trust the food was acceptable. Most humans are just walking stomachs, though the two of you did ask nicely."

Kim's eyes traveled over Box's body. He smiled.

"What am I? Your eyes are asking, but you remain silent. I am not a man nor am I a machine. I am the consummate artist. My fantastic creativity flows beyond simple creations of man but more than the repetitive actions of a machine. The man conceives with passion. The machine executes with precision."

Kim looked at some of the figures around them.

"They're wonderful; almost alive."

Box smiled.

"A-h-h-h, but wait for the winds. My birds. MY BIRDS! They sing, my birds. My walrus breathes, my bear grunts. The people, they come, they go. I find their stiffened bodies in the ice. But now I have found you. You must pose for me! Yes, a pose of two lovers."

Kim shook her head.

"We really need to leave; do you have some food that we can take with us?"

Box's face leered.

"Leave? Why would you want to leave this palace? Food? Why do you need food? Art! ART is the food of the soul! Food is the worthless food of the body. You must model for my other masterpiece."

Kim and Ron took a step back.

"We really need to leave. Thank you for the rest and the food. What do you mean, '_other_ masterpiece'?"

Box turned and pulled a rope hanging from the wall. A curtain of furs fell and the sight behind it made Ron gape and Kim blush to the roots of her hair. Behind the curtain of furs was a large statue of ice, a statue of them, as they had been night before. Kim's figure arched her back above Ron's figure as it lay below her. Their ice faces full of love.

Kim stammered a moment.

"_Ron, I think we really need to get out of here."_

Box pointed a metal hand at the two of them. A small aperture opened on the end of the index finger. Kim and Ron heard two small puffs. Looking down they each had a small dart embedded in their chests. Their heads began to swirl and they staggered to their knees before collapsing to the icy floor. Ron held his eyes open long enough to see Box leaning over him.

"Ah, yes. You each will pose for me; for my masterpiece of love and death!"

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Ron's head swam out of a gray darkness as he opened his eyes. His head felt like it was three sizes too big. His vision cleared as he looked around the room he was in. It was a large room made of ice with the floor covered in polar bear furs. His eyes grew wide when they fell on Kim. She had been stripped down to her underwear and was held spread-eagled in the air tied to an ice frame. Below her was a large clear block of ice that had a trough cut into it. The trough was full of water. Ron pulled at his arms but they were tied behind him around the pillar of ice he was bound to. Bear skins kept him from touching the ice. Their clothes and packs lay in a pile next to the wall.

Kim moaned, opened her eyes and looked at Ron. Her eyes widened as she looked at him. Then she looked down and began thrashing against her bonds. She struggled for a few moments and then stopped to gaze back at Ron.

"A-h-h-h! My two guests have awakened to take part in my next masterpiece."

Kim starting thrashing again.

"Why are you _doing_ this? We haven't done anything to you! All we wanted to do is leave."

Box sneered.

"That's what all of you want to do: leave! I know where you want to go. You want to go to him. I see him. I feel him."

Box closes his eyes and raised his arms. He began to speak in a monotone.

"He is in blackness, humming, clicking, all alone,  
He has millions, billions, trillions of neurons.  
He lives in the maze.  
He is the maze.  
He is my brother.  
He nurtured leaders.  
He rests the weary.  
Great birds are above him.  
There is green around him.  
Briars surround him.  
I feel him.  
He shows me the way.  
I can leave hell."

Box lowered his hands and then wheeled around and moved to an ice panel on the far side of the room. He got behind the pedestal and started to move some controls. Motors hidden somewhere behind the ice panels began to whirr and hum. Kim screamed as the frame she was bound to jumped. It began a slow descent.

The half-metal half skin of Box's face grinned.

"Ah, yes. You haven't done anything but you _will_. You will be my greatest work yet: "Death of Two Lovers". You see, that water is just at freezing. The frame will move down into the water and dip the lovely girl under. Then it will rise up again only to lower her again. Each time it lowers it will remain under water for a little longer. Then, just before she drowns, I will pour liquid nitrogen into the channels of ice block. The remaining water will instantly freeze and entomb her for all eternity; a vision of beauty for all to see. Then as she is frozen the block will slide forward and the wall behind the man will form another trough. As he watches his love frozen, water will surround him and he too will be entombed in ice."

The frame holding Kim began its slow descent into the water. Water was forced out as Kim and the frame were submerged. Ron saw Kim grab a breath of air just before she went under. He watched as the frame stopped holding her underwater for just a few seconds, then began to ascend. Her head came out of the water and she gasped for air. Ron struggled against the ropes holding him. His struggles moved the furs and his arm and hands pressed against the ridge of ice behind him. An idea crossed his mind and he knew he would have to act fast.

Kim shuddered from her dunking in the cold water. She had to struggle against the shock of entering the cold water and not gasp for air. She looked down to see Ron working against the band of leather that bound his hands. He was up to something but she could not see what he was doing. She had to distract Box so he would not see Ron trying to get free. She began to struggle against her bonds as the frame started down again. Box watched her in delight.

"Yes, my precious. Struggle. Let your death be a struggle of art; a lasting battle against death."

Ron watched as Kim was dunked under the water again. Her hair floated in the water as she was held there underwater. Their eyes locked as Ron worked his hands behind him. One of the jobs he had at work was doing ice sculptures. He had learned how to use his hands to melt the ice in shapes. Now he was working at sharpening the ridge behind him. He could only hope that he could get free before Kim either drowned or was frozen.

The frame rose again and pulled Kim from the water. She shivered uncontrollably. She knew she had to hang on a little longer to give Ron time.

"Hey, metal head!" Kim taunted. "Is this the best you can do?"

Box smiled at Kim.

"A-h-h-h, my precious is still full of life. I wonder how you will feel after your next trip under the water. Maybe I should go ahead and freeze you. No. I will let you rest under the water again before I decide."

Box pressed another button and the frame submerged Kim once again. She held her breath, but her body shivered so hard that it was difficult to hold. She didn't think she would survive another dunking. Just as darkness began to fill her vision the frame was lifted from the water. She took in gasps of air as soon as her head cleared the water. Her hair was already full of ice. Then she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Ron was free and quietly sliding over to her pack. Her GUN! If she could just distract Box just one more time, Ron might have the time he needed.

She forced a scream from her lungs and shook her head from side to side. Ice sprayed from her hair.

Box laughed

"So! This will be the last trip down, and then, my precious, you will be entombed in art!"

"NOT SO FAST BUCKET HEAD!"

Box whirled around to see Ron standing over Kim's pack, the remains of the leather straps hanging from his wrists. Kim's gun was leveled in Ron's hands at Box's chest.

"FOOL! Do you really believe that could hurt me?"

Ron grinned.

"Maybe not but I bet it could hurt something else."

Ron spun and opened fire at the animals and birds that Box had fashioned. They shattered under the blows of the fire that Ron laid down.

"MY BIRDS! MY BIRDS!" Box screamed as he hurtled toward Ron. Ron dove out of the way and fired at the pillar he had been tied to. The pillar shattered and fell forward onto Box, pinning him to the floor. Box smashed at the ice pillar with his metal hand.

"You! YOU! You destroyed_everything_! My birds! MY BIRDS!"

Ron ran up the ramp that went around the block of ice to reach Kim. The frame started down again but Ron grabbed Kim and pulled her back to lie on the furs. He grabbed one of his knives that he had pulled from his pack and sliced the leather thongs holding Kim. She was barely conscious as she gazed up at him. He wrapped her in some of the furs and carried her out of the room. He set her down just for a moment to grab their packs and their clothes. Picking her up again he started to run through the maze of hallways, hoping to find a way out. Box screamed and pummeled at the ice pillar that held him.

Ron ran through the twists and turns of the ice halls until Kim motioned for him to stop. Her teeth were still chattering as he laid her on the floor.

"R-R-R-o-o—nnn. W-W-wweee nee-e-e-ed to get to th-h-h-he m-m-m-maa-a-aze car st-t-t-t-ation."

Ron wrapped her tighter in the furs.

"But Kim, we don't know where to go."

Kim nodded.

"B-b-b-box t-t-t-t-told us w-w-w-where to g-g-g-go. J-j-j-j-ust g-g-g-et us to t-t-t-he station."

Ron held Kim's head in his hands.

"But Kim, if I don't get you warmed up, you might die."

Kim shook her head.

"I-I-I'm getting bet-t-ter. But we need to g-g-get out of here before h-h-he gets free. You c-c-c-c-an warm me up once we get a m-m-mazec-c-c-car. And w-w-we don't know where W-w-w-w-ill is, so we need to k-k-k-k-k-eep moving. P-p-p-p-personally I think B-b-box's ego and W-w-w-will's will go together quite n-n-n-n-icely."

Ron nodded, picked her up and ran for the mazecar station. Soon he found the station and set Kim down in front of the controls. With her hands shaking, she started to press a number of buttons and soon a mazecar appeared. The clamshell door hissed open as Ron helped Kim into the car. He put all their clothes and packs in the car and then pulled shut the door. Kim leaned forward to press the button to start the car. It accelerated into the darkness of the tunnel. Ron pulled some dry clothes out of her pack and handed them to Kim. A small smile crossed her face.

"I'm s-s-s--so cold I c-c-c-c-an barely m-m-m-move. Would you h-h-h-help me change? P-p-p-p-lease and thank you."

A grin spread across Ron's face.

"Boooyahh!"

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Will rubbed his arm where the blade of the fighter had sliced his warmsuit open. He sat on the floor of the mazecar station. When the inmates of Hell came at him he dropped a flash grenade in front of them. It took him but seconds to enter his card and code into the door. It hissed out of the way and he tried to jump through. But one of the inmates sliced at him with an ice axe made into a blade. The blade sliced through his suit and into his arm. Will spun and took the man's legs out from under him. With a quick blow across the neck he fractured the man's trachea. Grabbing the choking man, Will threw him through the open door, knocking down the ones coming up behind him. There was a pop and hiss and a hole was blown in the concrete beside his head. His DS gun! Will slapped the controls to the door, slamming it shut. The inmates on the other side pounded on the door. Then several distinct shots pounded against the door from the other side. He slid down the wall and sat on the floor just inside the door. As he waited to regain his senses the others on the other side of the door stopped pounding on the door and left him alone.

After a few minutes, Will staggered to his feet and headed for the mazecar landing. Standing in front of the callbox he input the call for the car and his destination. New Middleton. He would have to go back to base now. He's lost his gun, most if not all of his equipment, and quite a bit of pride. Somehow the amateur and the idiot had not only survived but beaten their way through the inmates. How they did it he could not understand. Right now, the infirmary, a hot shower and a meal sounded good to him. He could only hope that somehow they would be able to track any movement in the area.

A mazecar pulled into the station and Will plopped down into the seat. Pulling the door down he pressed the control to send the car to its destination. The darkness of the tunnel enveloped him as much as his mood did. If he ever caught up with those two there _would_ be hell to pay.

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Ron lay back in the seat of the mazecar as it traveled down the tunnels. Kim was asleep in his arms. He had handed her the dry clothes and helped her change. She giggled when he closed his eyes.

"Ron, I-i-i-imagine you have seen p-p-plenty before."

Ron thought before answering.

"Maybe, but I haven't seen yours. Yet."

Kim smiled as she finished changing and then settled underneath their one dry fur. Ron joined her as she cuddled up to him.

"Y-I-I-I-i-i-i-i! Watch those cold hands, Kim."

Kim just murmured and snuggled closer. Ron waited for her to move again then realized that she was breathing slowly and deeply. Soon, a slight snore came from her lips. Ron smiled and placed his arm around her, pulling her even closer. She felt like an ice cube but at least her teeth had stopped chattering. He looked down into her face and then with one finger gently traced the outline of her nose and cheek. Her skin was so incredibly soft. He placed his head on top of hers and faded off to sleep.

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The mazecar pulled into a station as the car announced.

"You are entering a restricted area. I am not permitted to proceed further without authorization."

Kim hit the button to open the door and climbed out. She motioned for Ron to follow as she pulled the packs from the mazecar. He climbed out and put on his pack as Kim allowed the car to go back up the tunnel.

"I have clearance to tell the car to proceed but that would show up on any trace being run on me. That would be like saying 'Hi, guys! We're here! Come kill us!'"

Ron nodded.

"But where are we going and how are we going to get there?"

Kim pushed herself up on her toes and gave him a kiss on his nose.

"We're going to meet the Thinker, and we're going to walk."

Ron blinked.

"The THINKER?"

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Greetings all. I hope that you enjoyed the latest edition of Kimberly's Run. Kim and Ron are away from Box and Will for the time being. Now they will face other dangers as they travel to their new destination. They are going to meet the Thinker. Who is the Thinker? Hang on till the next chapter.

Please leave a review. I would appreciate it.

Please remember to vote in the Fannie Awards.  
Please click on my author name. That will carry you to a list of the areas where I am nominated. There is also a link to the page where all the other areas are posted. Thanks for voting.

This is the Captain  
Right hand salute


	11. Chapter 10 Below Par

**Kimberly's Run  
Chapter Ten  
Below Par**

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Kim and Ron walked through the rolling countryside. A breeze blew across the meadow they were crossing. A flock of geese flew off across the sky in their "V" formation. Kim stepped to Ron's side and took his hand. The past two days had been quite nice. This was the first time either of them had been outside of the city and out into the countryside. The weather was warm during the day and cool at night. Ron racked his brain about history and remembered they used to call this month May. They only needed a small fire each night and used the survival sleeping bags they brought with them. It had been nice having a couple of peaceful days. They crossed the meadow and entered a scope of trees. The underbrush was thin and soft as they walked under the pines. Soon they exited from the tree line to find a small pond in front of them. Kim stretched her back and slid her pack to the ground. Rufus hopped out of Ron's pocket and began to explore the area.

"Let's rest for a little bit. This seems to be a nice place."

Ron slid off his pack and set it on the ground next to Kim. He stepped up behind her and began to gently massage her back, slowly working his way back and forth across her shoulders. She sighed as she leaned back against him.

"Now that feels nice. What do you say we stop here for the night? I know that we haven't gone far but this is such a nice place it would be a shame to pass it up just to keep going."

Ron continued to work his magic through his hands.

"Sounds good to me. Let's set up camp and get a fire going."

Kim sighed as she turned around and wrapped her arms around him.

"Sounds good to me, too. Plus, we can fill up our canteens with water. Our rations are getting a little low. Maybe I can gather up something to eat."

Ron looked at her perplexed.

"Something to eat? How?"

Kim opened her pack and pulled a kit out.

"Standard DS survival equipment. I was selected for special training in case I had to chase a runner outside of one of the cities. I think I can catch some fish out of this pond if there's any in there."

Ron smiled.

"Fish. Now I think I can handle that. Some of my clients wanted the freshest they could get."

Kim pulled out another pack.

"How about a little swim to cool off?"

Ron turned pale.

"Swim…sw...sw.i.i.im? Kim, we don't have any swimsuits."

Kim started to pull off her shirt as she faced him.

"Who needs swimsuits?"

Ron's eyes rolled back in his head as he fell back onto the ground.

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Will stalked the hallways of DS headquarters. Whatever hallway he was on instantly emptied. No one, but no one wanted to even talk to him. Will had reported in then gone to the infirmary to get his wounds taken care of. After that what time he didn't spend sleeping --- which was very little --- was spent in the main scanning bay. He would go from scanner to scanner. What time he didn't spend in front of the main scanners was spent at the computer terminals.

He ran trace after trace on Kim's and Ron's palmflowers. They were nowhere to be found. It was like they had disappeared into the Arctic. Another DS team had returned to the area and executed those prisoners they could catch. After "questioning" the one known as Warden they headed across the ice and found the lair of an insane creature that was half man-half machine. He killed two of the agents in the team before they were able to destroy him. The team found the myriad of ice statues. For each statue they found a body frozen in a lower vault. Then they found the statue of Kim and Ron. One of the DS agents that knew Kim recognized her. Since all the bodies matched the sculptures the team went no further. They never located the bodies of Kim and Ron but since there were bodies of all the others the two were listed as terminated and the team came back to headquarters.

Will didn't believe it. He would not believe it until he was able to fire a homer into each of them. No one dared confront him. He had spent the last few days just watching and waiting. Any mazecar that moved without a full authorization was tracked. He kept running traces on different cars that passed through the area of the ice palace. But there were hundreds and each required an individual trace. Each trace returned as a normal trip with the riders identified. He was not going to give up. He would either find them when they did something to show up on the board or he would find a trace of them.

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Ron sputtered and opened his eyes as water was poured on his face. He sat up, wiping the water from his face. He looked up to see Kim and Rufus grinning down at him.

"R-o-n-n-n-n. I meant we would leave our underwear on! Just what did you think I meant?"

Ron rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, you were taking off your shirt and…"

Kim's face turned a deep red.

"U-h-h-h-h, no. That's not what I meant. Com'n. Let's cool off."

Kim pulled down her pants and stepped into the water. She waded a couple of steps then leaned forward and slid into the water. Turning back to watch Ron as he pulled off his shirt and pants, she whispered to herself.

"Although it's not a bad idea."

Ron started to wade into the water and tripped, falling face first into the water. He came up a second later, sputtering and spewing. Kim giggled as he dog paddled out to where she was. They tread water for a few seconds just looking at each other. A big grin came across Ron's face as he splashed her in the face. Kim laughed as she splashed back.

"Oh, you are in for it now!"

Ron dove to the side and started to swim across the lake with Kim in pursuit. He turned and splashed at her. While she was blinded by the water he dove under the surface of the lake. She opened her eyes and looked around. Suddenly something grabbed one of her legs and pulled her down. Kim shrieked as she was pulled under. The water convulsed and bubbled for a few seconds until the two of them came up for air, laughing and giggling.

"Oh, you ARE going to pay for that!"

Ron grinned as he floated backward in the water. He arched his eyebrows.

"And just what are you going to do?"

Kim grinned as she dove forward.

"THIS!"

Kim wrapped her arms around Ron's neck and pressed her lips to his. Ron's arm's came up around her shoulders and pulled her tight against him. Their legs slowly stopped kicking to stay afloat and intertwined with each other. They slowly sank into the water. Kim's hands slid down Ron's back to the waistband of his boxers. Ron's hands moved toward Kim's back.

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Kim nestled against Ron as they lay by the fire. After their swim, they had been able to catch some fish. Ron fixed them for their supper. After a good hot meal and plenty of exercise, both of them were nodding off fast as the sun sank behind the trees. Kim pulled her commscan out and detached the antenna. She set the device on perimeter scan and set it on the ground next to them. Rolling back over to Ron, she snuggled up against him. Taking her finger she placed it on his chest and started to trace down. Ron raised his hand, pulled a few errant strands of hair from her face and tucked them behind her ear. Leaning forward, he gently gave her a kiss.

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Kim shifted her pack as the two of them approached a line of trees. Something was strange about this land. She could not see anything on the other side of the trees. It was like the land had been cleared. They arrived at the line of trees and stood wide-eyed at the land before them. The landscape had been changed into something very strange. The grass had been finely cut and there were places where the dirt had been dug out and the area filled with sand. The grass appeared to be arranged in long and short shapes. Kim walked out in the open area and looked left and right. To her right was a small grassy area and to her left was another grassy area that has a flag sticking up in the middle of it. The areas seemed to be laid out end to end. Where there was a grassy area with a flag there was another small grassy area nearby.

Ron looked around.

"Kim, what is this place?"

Kim shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it."

Ron turned and walked toward the grassy area with the flag. Along the way he stepped over to one of the sandy areas. He knelt down and run his hand through the sand.

"I wonder why all this sand is here?"

Kim shook her head.

"I really don't know. Let's check this flag out and see if something is up there."

Kim noticed as they approached the grassy area that the type of grass seemed to change and the grass in the green area was very fine and very closely cut. She stepped over to the flag and noticed it was stuck in a hole. She pulled the flag out of the hole and looked in. Seeing nothing she put the flag back in the hole. Both of them walked over to the small grassy area nearby and noticed that it looked like something had gouged at the grass and dirt. They had started across several of the grassy lanes when they noticed that each flag had a number on it.

They were walking down one of the grassy lanes when a small white ball came bouncing toward them. It was beeping as it rolled to a stop at Ron's feet. He bent down and picked it up.

"Hey, Kim. I think I get the idea. You have to put this little ball in that hole up there. Watch! I bet I can throw this and hit that hole."

Kim reached out to grab his arm.

"NO Ron!"

Ron's arm snapped and the ball sailed toward the green area, landed and rolled into the hole.

Kim just shook her head.

"That's dumb luck."

Ron shook his head.

"Naw, Kim, that's what you call dumb skill!"

_KABOOOOMMMM!_

Kim had the vague image of the flag heading skyward as the two of them dove for the ground. As the dust settled she looked up to see a large hole in the green area where the small one had been. Rufus, who had been watching from Ron's pocket screamed and zipped the pocket shut.

"Ach! NOOooooo. Are ye daft?"

They both turned their heads to see a short man in the distance. At least Ron thought he was a man. He was wearing a skirt, but had a beard with a little green hat on his head. He dropped two more balls on the ground and hit them. Kim and Ron started to run when the balls popped open and let nets fly out. The nets enveloped the two of them and pinned them to the ground. Both of them struggled for a moment as they watched the little man approach. He sat a bag full of the clubs he used on the ground next to him.

"And jus who do ye think ye are? You come walking across me fairways, tramped in the sand traps and generally making an annoyance of yourselves. What do ye have to say?"

Kim tried to get to her DS gun but the net had wrapped around her too tight.

"I'm sorry, sir. We didn't know. We haven't ever seen anything like this before."

"Ahhh, this is true. It's a game. A good game. It's a shame not many of you young ones that run know. Now what am I to do with ye? I could jus' dump you in one of them fancy cars and let those in the black suits find you. Or….ye can play me at my game. If you win, then ye go free. If I win…well, I'll jus be leaving a hint for the dark suited ones where to find you. Now what is it to be?"

Kim looked over at Ron.

"We don't have a lot of choice, do we?"

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Kim and Ron shouldered their packs as they left the man fussing and cursing at what he called the 18th green. So far he had thrown three sets of clubs into nearby lakes, wrapped a dozen irons around the nearest tree and broken five putters over his knee. Kim had played the game after a few simple instructions on how the game was played. She knew that the important thing was to stay at or below what was called par for each part of the game. The object of the game was to use the clubs to hit the little white ball onto the green area at the end of each part of the game called a hole. Once on the nice green part of the "hole", you used a special club to hit the ball rolling into the hole on the green. The "par" was different for each hole and there were eighteen holes in the game. The total par for the game was 72. Kim's score was 64. That was the reason the guy in the dress was so mad. He had been good to his word though, he let them go free. They were now walking down a dirt path toward what seemed to be a set of ruins. The man watched as they headed down the road.

"Hey, ye don't want to go there. It's…. Oh, well if you are dumb enough to go dat direction it's your funeral."

Ron looked over at Kim as they headed down the path.

"Kim, I really think you can do anything that is possible, maybe even impossible. Hey, I like that. Kim Impossible? Naw, that doesn't sound right. Kim Possible? Yeah, that's what I'm going to call you from now on. Kim Possible."

Kim laughed. "Okay, Ron. I have to figure out something for you."

They turned a corner on the old path and came to a stop.

"Whoa," they said together.

In front of them were the rusted remains of a large fence. It appeared to have been repaired before, but now the major part of the fence lay on the ground. A barely legible sign hung from a part of one pole.

"Restricted Area. Do Not Enter. By Order of the Grand Council."

Kim touched the sign for a moment. The Grand Council had been a group of people that made the decisions for everyone. That was until the Thinker had been upgraded to handle everything. Kim looked over to the side of the path to see another sign made of stone. The words were barely visible still readable.

"The Greenbrair Resort."

Kim nodded. They were here. As their society had grown in its early years it had been difficult to have everything run efficiently so they came up with the idea of the Thinker. A massive bank of computers, hidden away in what used to be a hiding place for the older government. It had been hidden underneath a resort where people went on vacation. There were many rooms underground full of computers, each having its own job. If they could get in to where the Thinker was, maybe they could find a way to the next stage of their trip to Sanctuary.

The two of them slipped through the remains of the gate and headed down the path. Behind them on the ground were the remains of the rest of the sign. There was a skull and crossbones on it. They did not notice the sensor buried in the grass as they passed. In front of them, far above on a part of the roof still remaining sat two elongated objects. A buzz came from inside both of them. The objects began to move and change shape. Huge metal wings unfolded to reveal enormous metal hawks. Their electronic eyes turned in the direction of the two trespassers. The wings began to flap and the two killhawks took to the air, their steel talons opening and closing in anticipation of the attack and kill. The two targets were registered into their brains. Their flight took them high above where they circled for a moment, then curling their wings over, the killhawks started to dive, their talons stretched out, opened gleaming in the sun.

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_Beep….Beep….Beep….Beep_

Will forced his eyes open at the incessant beeping of the console in front of him. He was instantly awake when he realized what it was. His hands flew over the keyboard as he typed in the proper commands. The beeping stopped and his screen came to life. Two pictures came up on the screen with lines of text below them blinking. The pictures were Kim and Ron's ID photos. Will typed in another command and waited for the response. The screen changed and showed a map with a blinking dot. A malevolent grin crossed his face.

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Kim saw a shadow pass over her and was about to turn when Ron tripped on a rock and plunged into her knocking them both to the ground. She was about to yell at him when the shadow covered her. She turned to see the killhawk slice through the air where her head would have been just a second before. The killhawks' dive took them over Kim and Ron where their talons carved furrows in the asphalt walkway.

"EPPP! What are those?" Ron screamed.

Kim got up and yanked him to his feet.

"No time to explain. RUN!"

Kim fumbled for her DS gun and pulled it out. She set a blast charge on the end and turned her head to the sky. One of the killhawks was circling above both of them as they ran along the path. Ron kept looking around as he ran.

"Where's the other one?"

Kim kept her eye on the one above them.

"I don't know. I'm more worried about that one above…"

Kim grunted as Ron changed his course and knocked her to the ground. She felt a rush of air and heard Ron scream. Rolling on her back, she looked back to see the second killhawk swooping back up in the air. Ron lay on the ground groaning. She could see the shoulder of his shirt had been sliced open. Ron glanced over at her.

"It came in just over the trees. The other one must have been monitoring us and the other came in over the trees and came down right on top of us. They must be communicating and cooperating."

Kim grabbed Ron and pulled him over on top of her as they rolled off the trail into some of the brush beside the path. The second killhawk gouged another hole in the ground where Ron had lain a second earlier. Kim aimed and fired as the killhawk turned to attack again. The blast charge caught the killhawk square and blew it to pieces. Kim pulled another blast charge from her pack and loaded it.

"Now, it we can only find a way for it to show itself."

Before Kim could say another word Ron got up and started to run down the middle of the path flapping his hands beside his head. Rufus stoop up on top of Ron's head waving his paws.

"Nana nan a nan auuu, you can't catch me, metal brain!"

Kim screamed.

"Ron! Are you cra…"

Before she could finish she was the killhawk heading straight for Ron. He had stopped in the middle of the trail thumbing his nose at it. Kim aimed and fired before she even realized she had. The blast charge struck the killhawk in the chest as it spread its wings and extended is talons at Ron. The second killhawk disappeared in a flash of light and plume of smoke. Kim ran to where Ron stood in the middle of the trail with his hands over his head. She pulled his hands from his head and looked at him.

"Are you okay?"

Ron felt around his head and body.

"I think so except where that one got me the first time."

Kim stood in front of him.

"Are you sure?"

Ron nodded and faced her.

"Yep."

Kim growled. "Good, because this is for scaring me half to death."

Ron barely registered the punch from her fist that lifted him off his feet and onto the ground

"Hey, that hurt! What was that for?"

She stood over him with her hands on her hips.

"Don't you ever try something like that again!"

Her face softened for a moment.

"You okay?"

Ron rubbed his jaw for a moment and looked up at her.

"Yeah, I think so."

Kim giggled and extended her hand. Ron warily took her hand as she pulled him to his feet. Her arms came up again and Ron ducked. Kim grabbed him, pulled him up straight and attempted to suck the air from his lungs with a kiss while crushing him with a hug. Ron held on as long as he could before he whimpered in pain. Kim pulled back and looked at him.

"What's wrong? I didn't hit you THAT hard."

Ron nodded.

"Yeah, but you didn't have talons that can cut through the ground hit you."

Kim's eyes bulged as she remembered Ron being hit by the killhawk.

"OHHH, I am s-s-o-o sorry. Here! Let's get under cover before any more of those things show up."

Kim took Ron's arm and placed it across her shoulder as they continued down the trail. They arrived at what had been a large building at one time but now was just a ruin. Kim kept them on the path that seemed to have been taken care of over the years. Soon they had passed around the ruins to its far side and under where the building had stood. Kim approached a mass of bushes that grew where the trail ended. She pushed the bushes back and the two of them passed through. She found they were standing into an alcove of some type with a steel door in front of them. She took the knob of the door in her hand and turned. It opened. She pulled Ron inside and closed the door. They stood in a long open hallway barely lit by a number of lights.

"Sit down and let me take care of that shoulder."

Ron sat on the floor as Kim pulled out the medkit and took a look at his shoulder.

"It's not deep and it's clean."

Kim sprayed some synthoskin on the cut and placed a bandage on it.

"Come on. Let's go."

Ron got to his feet and followed Kim. They came to the end of the hallway where there was another door. Kim opened the door and they both stepped through. She gasped at she looked out over the room where they were standing at the top of a set of stairs. The room was huge and filled with bank after bank of computers. Here and there they could see some of the computer banks were dark. Some maintenance robots moved from space to space, but others lay on the floor not moving.

"Kim, what is this place?"

Kim swallowed.

"It's the Thinker, Ron."

Kim and Ron stood looking out over the room remembering their history. Soon after the young had taken over the world they needed someone or something to take over the day to day decisions. No one wanted the human element in those decisions and while most of them had grown up with computers it was decided to build the Thinker: The largest, most complex computer ever built, dwarfing any other system ever envisioned. The next question was where to put it. They decided to use the bunker some of the older government leaders had tried to hide in. It was already built under the Greenbrier resort, with all the communications, power and everything else that would be needed. So the Thinker was built with its own repair force of robots and its own defense force. The Thinker was turned on and everyone turned to a life of luxury. Kim remembered the things she had seen around the city before they left; things normally taken care of going unrepaired. Then, looking down at the some of the blackened computer systems, she understood: the Thinker was dying.

They slowly came down the steps until they were level with the floor. Ron noticed that one set of computers in front of them were not operating. The floor all around the area was dark. The computers that seemed to be running had lit floors. He stepped over to it. A metal placard was embedded in the main bank. Kim read it.

New Middleton

Section: Cathedral

Ron passed his hands over the banks.

"Cathedral? That's a dead section of the city."

Kim pointed to another computer section that did not seem to be operating.

"Let's check that one."

Kim's foot touched a section of the floor that was lit. Alarms sounded across the room and they heard a roaring sound approaching. Kim grabbed Ron and they ran across the lit section to the section that was dark. The roaring sound became almost deafening as they crawled around the dead computer bank and hid. Then it was so quiet that all they heard was themselves breathing. Then in the background they heard the creak of metal joints along with a beeping and whirring noise. They both slowly looked around the corner of the computer.

They both yelled and jumped back. Kim drew her gun and pointed it at the figure standing in front of them. Kim's mind gibbered for a second. It was a combat guard robot; its armor gleamed in the light of the room as its eye sensors seemed to pierce her eyes. Several different types of weapons were mounted on its back and arms. Kim knew that the largest round from her gun would not even tickle the figure standing in front of them. All this way and they were s-o-o-o dead.

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Kim and Ron's story continues. So Kim is now Kim Possible. They are slowly making their way to Sanctuary but unknown to them Will knows where they are. Now they are deep within the Thinker facing a power force. Stay tuned.

I would like to thank everyone for their support of all the authors and their stories for the FanFiction awards.

This is the Captain  
Roger and Out  
Right hand salute


	12. Chapter 12 Dirty Socks

**Kimberly's Run  
By Captainkodak1  
Chapter 11  
Dirty Socks**

* * *

They both yelled and jumped back. Kim drew her gun and pointed it at the figure standing in front of them. Kim's mind gibbered for a second. It was a combat guard robot; its armor gleamed in the light of the room as its eye sensors seemed to pierce her eyes. Several different types of weapons were mounted on its back and arms. Kim knew that the largest round from her gun would not even tickle the figure standing in front of them. All this way and they were s-o-o-o dead.

Kim held her breath as she watched the colossal machine in front of her; its electronic eyes bore into her. She waited as a row of blasters rose from its back onto its shoulder. The barrels tracked back and forth across her face. Slowly she let out her breath, why was it waiting?

The machine stood up and continued its patrol down the walkway. Kim's knees shook as she tried to think of what happened. She felt a warm touch on her shoulder. Slowly she glanced to her side to see Ron looking back at her with wide eyes, sweat pouring down his face. He opened his mouth to speak but Kim signaled him to be quiet. They turned and watched as the guard robot disappeared around the corner. She turned to look at the plaque embedded in the computer back over her head.

**Ocean Trench  
MUFFY**

Kim looked down at the dark flooring under her feet and back at the dark flooring around the Cathedral computer bank. Her voice croaked as she spoke.

"This is another dead area. Cathedral and now MUFFY. That's why the guard didn't do any thing. It could not see us. For it, this area does not exist. But when we stepped on the activated floor, it knew we were here."

Ron looked down the row of computer banks. There were at least three active computer banks until there was another dark one.

Kim slid down to sit on the floor.

"Cathedral was the first station for runners. The next was Muffy, then something happened and we ended up in the arctic by mistake. If the runners are using the dead areas as stations then that next down computer bank should tell us where we need to go next."

Ron judged the distance between them and the next dead area.

"Yeah, but it's a long way to that next dead section. I have a feeling that the mechanical monstrosity will not let us just stroll down there."

Kim nodded and sat back trying to think. There had to be a way. Ron pulled a couple of snack bars out of his bad and handed one to Kim. She pulled the wrapper of the snack and started looking for a place to put it. Then a smile came over her face. She turned to Ron as he fed half of his bar to Rufus.

"Ron, how many of those bars do you have in there, and what else do you have, like something we can throw."

Ron looked at Kim.

"What do you mean throw…ohhhh. We get something and throw it somewhere, ole bucket head will go chasing over there to blast it while we run for the next dead zone."

Kim nodded, Ron was definitely thinking more now. He rummaged in his pack and came out with a few items; a couple more snack bars and a container of oil that Ron used for cooking. Kim took the items from him.

"I'd say throw the snack bars first, then you throw the sauce bag. Then we run like crazy for the other dead zone. Don't look back; don't pay any attention to anything but reaching that dead area. Ready?"

Ron shook his head as he put his pack on his back. Kim already had hers on. Rufus jumped up into Ron's pocket and zipped it shut.

"No, but I don't have a choice do I?"

Kim shook her head and gave him a quick kiss on the nose.

"NOW!"

Kim reared back and hurled both snack bars as hard as she could. They hit one of the computer banks a couple of rows over and fell to the floor. There were a metallic shriek across the room and they heard the pounding of the guard robot. They both started to run. Kim noticed that Ron had not thrown the bag of sauce.

"THROW THE container!"

Ron shook his head.

"I got an idea."

Ron with an idea? Kim wouldn't say which worried her worst the fact that he didn't throw the bag to distract the robot or that he had an idea. Either way it didn't matter now they were sprinting for the dead area ahead of them. There was the sound of laser fire a couple of rows over as the guartbot incinerated the snack bars. It let loose another shriek when it detected Kim and Ron running.

Ron opened the container and poured it behind him at a turn between two computer banks.

"What are you doing? You were supposed to THROW THAT!"

Ron continued to run as he dropped the empty container.

"Let's hope we get lucky."

They were close to the dead zone when the robot guard turned the corner and stepped in the oil. Its metal foot slipped as it tried to make the turn to pursue Kim and Ron. The massive creation attempted to regain its balance but the laws of gravity and momentum were against it. If fell to the floor with a crash and slid into another computer bank shorting it out. The two of them reached the dead area the moment the guardbot regained its feet. It rushed to where they had entered the dead area and stood there looking. One leg was having trouble maintaining the weight of its body as it constantly swayed back and forth.

The two of them watched as it turned after a few moments and staggered off across the area and disappeared around the corner. Soon there was a resounding crash far off across the room. Kim glanced over to Ron who had a grin on his face. She grinned back.

"Lucky"

Turning back to the dead computer bank they glanced up to see the plaque embedded in the front. It read.

**Washington DC  
Eastern Coast  
Virginia**

Kim snapped her fingers.

"This is where the maze car should have sent us when we left MUFFI. Now we know where the next stage is. Ballard must be waiting for us there."

Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, let's get out of here before someone or something else shows u….."

Kim turned to see Ron's face turn white. She was about to ask what was wrong when he slapped his hand over her mouth. Her anger swelled because one thing it hurt when he covered her mouth and second she wondered why he didn't say anything.

Ron took his hand off her mouth and put his finger to his lips showing she should be quiet. He slowly pulled her around the side of the computer bank. She wondered what was going on when he pointed back at the door they had descended from. Kim turned and looked and struggled to silence the "eep" that leapt from her lips. Will was standing at the top of the stairs with gun drawn. She drew her gun and held it high as she backed up against the computer bank. This was the last thing she expected and needed. Will would be able to track them with his scanner. If they split up she had no doubt he would go after Ron first since he would be unarmed. Will knew Kim well enough to know how she would move. She had always been the hunter. Now she was the one being hunted. There was only one way to get out of here. She would have to kill Will, and that would not be easy.

Will's voice called out over the room.

"I know where you are. I'll tell you what. Come out now and I promise it will be quick. If you don't, and I have to hunt you down, it will not be pretty."

Ron looked over to Kim. She shook her head.

"No way, we will think of something."

Rufus crawled out of Ron's pocket and chattered into his ear. Kim watched as the two whispered to each other for a few moments then Rufus hopped down into Ron's backpack and pulled a bag out. He scooted across the floor dragging it out of sight. Kim looked at Ron.

"Get ready to run."

Ron stood up before Kim could say anything, grabbed her gun and stepped into the clear. He held the gun by the barrel and raised his hands into the air.

"Don't shoot."

Will raised his gun and aimed at Ron. The sound of the homer charging came to Ron's ears.

"Drop the gun."

Ron dropped the gun behind him and stepped forward.

"The guardbot shot Kim. She's hurt and needs help. I don't care what you do to me but please get her some help."

Will came down the steps taking steady aim at Ron.

"You don't have a lot of room to negotiate runner. Besides why should I show any mercy to that pitiful excuse for a Sandman? Little girls don't need to get into a man's work. She is nothing but a little amateur."

Ron's face flushed as he stood with his hands raised.

Will came up to stare in Ron's face grinning.

"You know after I shot this homer into your stomach. I'll get her some medical treatment, but I didn't say what kind of treatment did I. I'll be sure she is in a lot of pain for a long time."

Ron smiled at Will.

"That's going to be hard when you are out cold."

Will stared back at Ron.

"Wha…"

"BONZAI!!" Screamed Rufus as he jumped into Will's face carrying something in his paws. Ron took a deep breath. Will screamed and gagged as he fired his gun, then his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out. The homer shrilled off the gun and embedded itself into the wall. Ron kicked the gun out of Will's hand and pulled him up punching him in the face.

"That is for calling Kim pitiful."

Ron punched him again.

"That is for calling her a little girl."

Ron stepped back and kicked Will straight between the legs. Will groaned and curled up on the floor.

Ron looked down at him.

"And that was for threatening her."

Ron turned to see Kim standing behind him pointing her gun at Will, her face full of surprise. Rufus climbed up Ron's leg and onto his shoulder. Ron turned to his little friend.

"Way to go RUFUS!"

Kim dragged Ron back and handed him his backpack. She already had hers on.

"Let's get out of here."

Ron nodded toward Will groaning on the floor.

"What about him?"

Kim thought for a moment and raised her gun holding it there for a moment. Then she lowered it.

"No, not any more. I will not kill if I don't have too and right now I don't have to."

She holstered her gun.

"By the way, what did you use on him?"

Ron grinned as he picked up an object with his fingertip. Kim's eyes started to water and she gasped at the smell.

"Rufus pulled out a pair of my hiking socks that got wet the other day. I had already worn them about three days. I put them in the bag will I could wash them."

Ron put the sock back in the plastic bag then pulled it back out and dropped both of them on Will's face.

"That ought to hold him for a little bit."

Kim giggled as she pulled him in for a kiss.

"That's for being my hero."

Then she punched him in the arm.

"That's for taking chances again. How did you know that he wouldn't shoot you on sight?"

Ron rubbed his shoulder as Kim rolled Will over and checked him out. She pulled a map, extra power packs for her gun and a number of different charges out of his bag. She also pulled out a number of field rations. Kim picked up Will's commscan and tossed it further down the hall; pulling her gun she blasted it to pieces. Ron put his arm around Kim's shoulders as they headed for the exit.

"I figured his ego was so big that he wouldn't shoot me right then. He wants us so bad that he would want to do it up close. Rufus was ready for him. All I had to do is sucker him in."

Kim and Ron walked out into the bright sunlight of day. They kept watch in the sky for anymore robotic eagles as they made their way from the area. Kim checked the map.

"We need to get to a mazecar station. There is no way that we can walk the distance. This map will help us get past some of the guard points. Once Will regains consciousness he'll have to go back to a DS base to get another scanner. By then we should be out of the area."

Kim pointed in one direction.

"There is a mazecar station a few miles in that direction. If we keep a good pace we should get there in a six or seven hours."

Ron took her hand.

"Well, let's get going. No need to hang around for him to wake up."

They headed across the countryside headed for the mazecar station. After several hours of walking Kim found a grove of trees where they could rest, so they settled down under the cover of the branches to eat and rest. Ron pulled out some of the food he had packed and handed a couple of food bars to Kim.

"Not my roasted fish like the other night but still pretty good."

Kim sighed as she lay back against a tree and started to eat.

"I swear anything you fix is good. I don't know about you but I'm tired. The mazecar station is still about three miles away. We can get a good rest in before we head out again."

The sound of a hovercar caused Kim to grab Ron and pull him deeper into the trees. They both huddled down under the branches of a pine tree and waited. The hover car came in over the trees where they were hiding and landed just to the edge of the meadow they had crossed. Two figures got out as they watched. Kim's eye bulged out at the sight of the first one. It was a young woman a few years older than Kim and way past her last day. Her green and black jumpsuit seemed to match the pale green of her skin.

"Shego 4! So this is where she is hiding. So if she is here then that means…"

A tall dark haired man stepped out of the hovercar. He wore a long blue lab coat, which matched his blue skin. Kim couldn't see it at this distance but she knew there was a scar across his face.

"Dr. Drakken!"

Ron leaned over to whisper in Kim's ear.

"You know those two?"

Kim nodded and whispered back.

"Dr. Drakken ran years ago, he ranted about taking over the world. Shego was his helper. Apparently he was messing around with some weapon and it malfunctioned and blew up. It dosed them both with some type of weird radiation. That's way their skin looks so funny. Shego is a thief who steals whatever they need. He keeps trying to come up with ways to take over the world."

Ron nodded.

"Don't you think we need to give these two a wide berth?"

Kim nodded and started to crawl backward deeper into the trees. Ron followed her as they crawled through the stand of trees and into the open. Ron was about to stand up when Kim pulled him down. She pointed to a ravine at the bottom of the hill they were on.

"Crawl down there before you stand up. That way they won't see us."

"OHHHH, I think its way past the point Princess."

Kim and Ron both looked up in dismay to see the character Shego standing just feet from them with her hands glowing. She grinned at the two of them.

"SAY NIGHTY NIGHT!"

The last thing Kim and Ron remembered was Shego hurling two balls of green light at them.

* * *

Will stared into the mirror in the locker room back at DS headquarters. The black eye the runner had given him was quite evident now. Another DS agent had tracked him down when he didn't respond to calls on the scancomm. They had found him unconscious with the sock still on his face. Will had to put up with the other agents snickering behind his back as he walked to the locker room. When he opened his locker there was an air freshener with an old sock hanging in his locker. He snatched the items out and threw them in a nearby trash bin. None of the other DS agents seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. Will grumbled as he packed another bag with his equipment and stormed out of the room. The other agents watched as he left. One went to the door and signaled that he was gone.

All of the agents gathered in front of one locker. The lockers owner pulled a computer pad and laid it in his lap. He activated the screen and it came to life.

"KIM VS WILL"

The agents of the station had now started a betting pool. At first the odds were that Will would hunt down Kim and kill her on first sight. But now he had failed again to capture or kill her and the other runner. Now with the news that the other runner had taken out Will with a hiking sock, albeit a hiking sock that the other DS agents had to use a pole to move, Will's reputation had taken some hard hits. Now some of the agents were actually pulling for Kim and Ron to escape. The betting pool changed with each report and it stood now at 3 to 1 that Kim and Ron would make it.

* * *

Kim thought her head was the size of Will's ego when she opened her eyes. Her whole body hurt in places no one should hurt. Her arms were held over her head in a set of heavy shackles. Her feet could just barely touch the floor. Looking beside her she noticed Ron was starting to stir. He opened his eyes and looked over to her.

"You okay?"

She closed her eyes and nodded.

"Other than hurting all over I guess I am okay. How about you?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders as best he could.

"About the same. Where are we?"

"Right now you are in our lair."

The sharp voice snapped their attention to their front. The person known as Shego stood in front of them with her arms crossed. She stepped up to the two of them.

"I was wondering what had all the DS units in the area all upset. Now I know."

She walked over to a table that had all their equipment on it. Kim's gun as well as Ron's cooking knives sat out in the open. Shego picked up Kim's gun then looked at all the knives. Putting down Kim's gun she turned to face both of them. She leaned back against the table supporting herself with her hands on the table.

"I did a little search after hacking into the DS systems. Kimberly here was one of the premier DS agents. She had more kills than any other agent her age. She was on the way to be one of the best ever when she decided to run. Ronald here is considered one of the best cooks in the New Middleton area. I also know that he is one of the people who help runners run. But by all accounts and some personal observations of friends, it seems that opposites attract in this case. The DS agent fell in love with a runner leader and the two of them took off. Kim killed another agent in their escape and Ronald here laid waste to another one of DS's best. So here's the deal."

Shego pointed at Ron.

"You will be let go. A good meal is hard to come by here and as long as you behave and cook well the two of you will keep your health."

Shego turned to Kim.

"You will not be let go. You will stay in your room. The same applies to you. Behave yourself."

Ron spoke up.

"No deal, she stays with me or I don't cook anything."

Shego snarled.

"You don't have a choice."

Ron stared back.

"Oh I think I do. IF you let her stay with me and help me, I'll make sure you have the best meals anywhere. IF she doesn't stay with me all I will fix will be beans and franks."

Shego stood looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Okay, deal, you cook, she helps and serves AND neither one of you tries to escape. DEAL?"

Kim wasn't sure what was going on but she had learned to trust Ron so she nodded.

"Deal."

Ron nodded.

Shego pressed a button on the table and a group of large goons came in the room to stand beside the two of them. Shego pressed another button and the shackles released the two of them. The goons quickly grabbed them and placed shackles on their ankles. She motioned them out of the room.

"They will show you the way. Now get cooking."

The goons lead the two out of the room. Shego turned to look through all the stuff on the table then back at the two leaving. She mumbled to herself.

"I have a feeling I'll need to watch those two real close."

Two beady eyes watched as she left the room. Rufus turned back from the vent he was watching from and headed for the kitchen vent. Maybe he could help his humans escape.

* * *

Hope all of you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review.

Thanks for the support in the Fan Fiction Awards.


	13. Chapter 13

Kimberly's Run  
Chapter 13  
The Blue and the Grey  
By Captainkodak1

* * *

"Buurrrrppppp"

"Oh Dr. D. that is soooo gross. Like …burrppppp."

Dr. Drakken smiled over at Shego as she scowled back at him while covering her mouth. Wonderful aromas still rose from the remains of the meal spread before them on the table. Ron had outdone himself over the past few days. He had furnished meal after meal. Breakfast was served in their bedrooms by Kim, who grumbled all the way to and from the rooms. It was difficult enough carrying the trays loaded with pancakes, bacon, sausage, omelets, coffee and juice. But serving the two it while wearing shackles made if worse.

Kim did as asked because it gave her the run of the lair and kept her and Ron together. He cooked for the two of them also but not quite as heavy as he prepared for their two captors. She really didn't complain as long as she didn't end up cooking. Shego had insisted Kim make her some toast late one evening. After all the goons came with fire extinguishers and helped put the kitchen back to together it was agreed that Ron would do the cooking and Kim would serve and help clean up.

Shego stood up and pulled her arms up into the air in a long stretch.

"AAAhhhhh, now that was a meal. Hey Princess, we are finished here. When you are finished cleaning the table, Dr. D and I would like coffee and ice cream delivered to the lab."

Kim grunted and nodded as she started piling the dishes on the serving table. Kim watched as the two villains left the room that they had started using as a dining room. Ron came in the room as they left and started to help Kim clean up.

Kim glared at Ron.

"OK, now we have been at this for nearly a week. Now just how are we going to get out of this? I a-s-s-u-m-e you have a plan of some type. The main thing is how we get rid of these shackles. And that is not going to be easy since Shego keeps the keys in her pocket on her jumpsuit. I tried to get to it up she just grabbed my hand and licked my face. Do you know what she said to me?

"I didn't know you swung that way Princess." Now how sick is that woman? Another thing, if I have to go another few days washing dishes I'll….."

Kim had to stop her rant as Ron planted a kiss firmly on her lips. She tried to push him away but her arms slid up his chest and around his neck. After a few moments he broke the kiss and leaned back. Kim opened her eyes and grinned at him.

"Okay you may have stopped my rant but we are still in the same sitch. Just how are we going to…"

"Get the keys?" Finished Ron.

Ron put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. Kim's eyes grew wide.

"HER KEYS? Just how did you get…"

Rufus popped out of Ron's pants pocket.

"HIya!"

Ron covered Kim's mouth with his hand as she opened her mouth.

"Shhhhhh, he showed up a couple of days after. I made it his job to get the keys while I worked on the other part of my plan."

Kim gave Ron a strange look.

"What do you mean?"

Ron kept cleaning up the table while he whispered to Kim.

"Now as good as you are and even if you could get your hands on your gun, I doubt we would get far with Shego shooting plasma at us. Right?"

Kim nodded as she piled more plates on the serving table.

Ron grinned.

"Well, have you noticed what we have been eating and what I have been fixing them?"

Kim thought about it and started to smile.

"And I take it that dessert and coffee tonight will be the time to make our break."

Ron nodded.

"Rufus has already found our stuff and smuggled it outside. You think you can handle Shego in a little hand to hand?"

Kim's grin turned a little evil.

"OH this is going to be sooo fun."

* * *

Shego and Drakken turned to see Kim roll a serving table into the lab.

"Well Princess, just what has the buffoon fix for us tonight?"

Kim pulled back the lid to show two large servings of chocolate cake covered in large heaps of vanilla ice cream covered in steaming fudge sauce. Two large mugs of steaming coffee sat beside each piece of cake. Kim served the two villains and left the lab. Drakken and Shego settled down into two chairs in the lab and started to eat. They finished their desserts and sat back with contented sighs.

"You know we are going to have to do something with those two real soon. The little Princess isn't going to be so demure for long. As long as we control the buffoon she will stay in line, but in time they will figure out something."

Drakken stood and stepped over to his lab table.

"Well, I did finish my neurocompliance chips this afternoon. All we would have to do is put one on each of their foreheads and they would do anything we would tell them to do."

Shego's face turned into a smile.

"Hmmm, the little princess doing anything I wanted her to do. Now THAT has some interesting possibilities."

"Not IF I can help it."

Shego and Drakken whirled around to see Kim and Ron standing in the room with them and their shackles were gone. Shego's hand slapped on the pocket of her jumpsuit. She snarled back at the two.

"Well, I don't know how you did it but it doesn't matter. You won't live to leave here!"

Kim smiled back.

"Oh, I think we will have a nice long life. Go Ron!"

Kim and Ron split in different directions. Kim ran straight for Shego as Ron chased after Drakken who had disappeared out the door of the lab.

Shego slipped into her fighting stance.

"Before I fry you it's going to be interesting to see just how good one of DS's best really is."

Kim was in her fighting stance just feet and away and beckoned Shego on.

"Bring it."

Shego jumped at Kim, who easily dodged the flying kick. She did a spin kick and swept Shego's feet out from under her. Shego spilled to the floor. Kim did a couple of handsprings back as Shego slashed out with her hands covered in fiery plasma. Shego snapped kicked to her feet and settled back into her stance. She swallowed a little and looked a little woozy.

Kim grinned.

"Do you like Ron's cooking? I bet he can do some wonderful things with anything. How about some oysters? Even those slick, slimy things sliding around the plate, before he dips them in some raw egg to batter and fry them. Or maybe he can try to cook you up some snails like you can get in New Paris. Don't forget good ole Rocky Mountain oysters."

Shego's face turned a little greener.

"Oh, you are going to pay for that."

She pulled herself up and got ready to charge when Kim heard a distinct. "RRRRIIIPPPPP!"

Shego stopped and slipped her hands to the back of her jumpsuit. Kim charged as Shego was distracted by her wardrobe malfunction and planted a punch in Shego's stomach. The air escaped from Shego's lungs in a whoosh. Shego staggered back and started to recover when there was a loud gurgling from her stomach. Her face started to turn several shades greener. Kim watched as Shego put her hands flew to her mouth and turned to run out of the lab. Kim turned and smiled as Ron returned to the room.

"Dr. Drakken out of the way for now?"

Ron nodded.

"Yeah he ran and locked himself in his room. From the noise I heard through the door, the run to his room had the same affect as Shego got."

Kim shook her head.

"I still can't believe you and Rufus came up with the idea to overfeed those two then give them a heavy meal before we made our break."

Ron shrugged his shoulders as Rufus climbed up on his shoulder.

"It worked. Although this is the first time I have ever used my cooking as a weapon. That your specialty."

Kim punched him in the arm the took it and pulled him toward the doors.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

The two of them pushed open the door to the lab and turned up the hall to leave the lair.

"Hey,….. hic...you two think you are …hic…going somewhere?"

Kim and Ron turned to see Shego holding herself up against the wall glaring at them. Her hair was disheveled and her normally green skin was distinctly pale. She ignited her hands and stood up wobbling.

"Stop right where you are and hand over the keys."

Ron whispered something to Rufus as he motioned for Kim to stop and turn facing Shego as they raised their hands. Rufus hopped down and ran toward Shego with something in his paws. She looked down at Rufus as he approached.

Ron nodded to Rufus.

"He has your keys in my pouch."

Rufus stood up and handed Shego the pouch. Shego snatched it back from Rufus and opened it. Her face went through several shades of pale and green before her cheeks pouched out again. Her hand flew to her mouth as she turned to run back up the hall.

Kim looked over at Ron.

"What was in the pouch?"

Ron picked up Rufus and placed him back on his shoulder. Kim noticed that Rufus has a clothespin on his nose. Ron smiled back at Kim.

"Oh, just a day old packet of limburger cheese."

Kim's chin dropped to her chest then began to giggle.

"Oh you are evil Ron, sooo evil."

Ron put his arm around her shoulder.

"I am what I is, Booyahahahahahaha."

* * *

Will held up his scanner and traced the area for either of the two signals. Nothing. After he recovered from the sock attack he went back to the thinker. It was easy to see that most of the places they had been were represented by the dead computers. They would have noticed the name of the next dead computer and read the name off the computer bank. That's where they would be heading. He pulled out his commscan.

"Base 5 this is Will. I need a scan and trace of all maze car stations in the radius of fifteen miles. I want to know what station they were used and where they went to. I want particular attention paid to any car arriving in the area of Washington. I am going to play a hunch. I coming back to base."

* * *

Kim and Ron jogged across the landscape as they left the area. Both of them wanted to get out of the area as fast as they could. Ron was not sure just how long Shego would be out of commission and they did not want to be anywhere around when she got back on her feet.

Kim stopped for a bit and pulled out the map they had of the area. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon as they checked the map and nibbled on some of the field rations. Kim pointed at a point between two nearby hills.

"The mazecar station is down there. The sooner we get there the better."

Ron stuffed the remains of the ration bar in his mouth and turned to her.

"WHeffff ard wefff gofffffinkkkk?"

Kim looked at him with crossed arms and raised eyebrow

"Care to repeat that question?"

Ron swallowed what he had in his mouth.

"Where are we going?"

Kim smiled at Ron and pointed to the map.

"We need to get out of the area, but I don't want to go directly to the Washington DC station. There is another stop nearby that is smaller and most likely not to have much of any security. Besides the Washington station is restricted. We go there without proper authorization, we will set off every alarm in the area. Even these new toys we stole from Drakken would not help us then."

Ron nodded. He thought back on his history and remembered that it was Washington were it all started. There was not much of the city left after the riots. But there were other problems too. Some of the keepers at the National Zoo opened up as many of the cages as they could during the riots and resulting fires. One to cause further chaos, the other to make sure the animals were not trapped and burned by the fires. As the rioting died down, thousands of the young were gathered on the mall. An army general by the name of Benard Teach had been in the field to command the troops trying to gain control of the rioters. He was not very successful as most of his troopers defected to the side of the rioters. He tried to hide and call in more troops but they found him. As the crowd of young people surrounded him, he pulled a surprise for everyone out of his pocket. It was a device the size of a baseball. It was a DNP, better known by his men as a Device, Nuclear, Pocket. Teach was smiling when he pressed the detonate button. The resulting crater was a 400 yards across and 400 feet deep. It was forever named Teach's Hole. Every building for a half a mile was leveled or damaged. The resulting fallout had made the area uninhabitable for over 200 years. The animals that escaped from zoo came back to the area. Some were able to stay and survive as the radiation died down over time. Now it was a strange and dangerous place, full of mysteries and rumors.

Kim and Ron headed down the slope of one hill and followed the ravine between two other hills. They followed the ravine for several miles under they could see the concrete structure of the mazecar station. Kim approached the door to the station and typed a code into the pad at the door. The door slid open and they entered the station heading down the stairs. Long extinguished lights flickered on as they detected movement in the station. The halls were dusty and smelled rank from the stagnant air. Kim approached the station box, she pulled out one of the toys she had stolen from Drakken's lab. It was a scramble box. It would produce a code to call a mazecar but would then erase any tracking signal. She slid the device into the callbox and typed a code into the pad and punched a code into the device. Within minutes a car appeared at the station. The two of them climbed in and pulled the canopy closed. The car slid into the darkness.

* * *

Will jumped as an alarm sounded on his new commscan. He rolled over in his bed and picked it up.

"What is it?"

The face of one of the other DS operatives appeared on the screen.

"You wanted to know if there were any strange or unusual events near the area of their last known location. We have just recorded a mazecar call at a station within 10 miles from that point. It's strange because this station has not been used in several years. Also the code was entered by a scrambler. There is no way to tell where the car was headed or who called the car."

Will thought for a moment. Kim and Ron had been quite clever over their past confrontations. It was just possible that they had found a way to obtain a scrambler. How he did not know, but he was sure that it was the two of them.

"Thank you. Please log me out and have a mazecar ready for me when I get to the station. I'll need two squads ready to move out when I arrive at the station. Be sure they are armed to level three status. Out."

Will shut off the commscan and stood up. He grabbed his equipment pack and pulled his gun and holster on as he quickly strode out of his room.

* * *

Kim and Ron stepped out of the mazecar after it came to a stop in the station. Both of them were wearing a pair of fingerless gloves that Kim had stolen from one of Drakken's labs. They looked just like a normal pair of fingerless gloves. But not only did they cover up their palms but also blocked the signal given off by their palm flower. They could only be detected by a DS agent within 100 feet or so. Normal public scanners would not detect them.

They noticed that the station was quite busy. Most of the incoming mazecars were full and emptied as they arrived at the station. Very few people were actually leaving the station in mazecars. Ron looked at Kim.

"I thought this place was supposed to be out of the way and quiet."

Kim shrugged her shoulders.

"I have no idea, but we better find out. At least the crowd will give us a place to hide."

She took his hand and they headed out of the station. They walked with the crowds as they moved out of the station. As the neared the exit of the station they noticed a man standing to the side of the hallway. He was wearing a mottled gray uniform and carried a long muzzle-loading rifle. Kim recognized the weapon from her weapons class at the DS academy. It had an extremely low rate of fire as you had to load it through the muzzle. It was quite deadly up to about 300 yards. The man was handing out flyers.

"Come see the battle folks. It was one of the greatest battles of antiquity. Find you a place on the battlefield and watch history unfold."

Ron took one of the flyers and they read it together as they walked from the station.

"See The First Battle of Manassas or the Battle of Bull Run. as they fought it on July 21, 1861. See one of the greatest presentations of robotic battles on the east coast. See the two armies clash across the countryside. Watch the explosions, and hear the rifle fire. Follow the map to find you a good viewing spot."

Kim put the flyer in her pocket.

"Well, at least we can blend in with the crow…."

Ron turned to see why Kim had stopped talked. He stopped when he noticed her face turning slightly pale, then he followed her gaze and took a breath. Will stood only about 100 feet away facing to their left. Kim grabbed Ron's arm and they dove into the crowd to their right. They only went a few feet when Ron brought Kim up short. In front of them just down the walk was another DS agent. Kim started to look around. There were several black and grey uniforms. All of them were carrying their commscans outstretched. They heard Will yell and they almost started to run. Then they noticed all the DS agents running past them. They turned just for a second to see Will standing over a red-headed girl. Another DS agent had tackled the blond haired man with her. They didn't wait to see what else happened. They started to run toward the battlefield.

They ran past most of the viewing stations and crossed over the small river of Bull Run. Kim made a turn into a group of trees. They hid in the shadows of the trees for a moment trying to catch their breaths. Ron tapped Kim on her shoulder and pointed across the field. There were three more DS agents on a rise just above them. There was no way they could cross the landscape without being seen. Kim turned to go back the way they came when she stopped. Two more DS agents had taken up station on both sides of Bull Run. They were cut off.

* * *

Will spoke into his commscan.

"Okay everyone, it's confirmed they are in the area. I showed their picture to some of the people in the area and they confirmed they had seen them. Apparently they are wearing some type of glove that blocks the signal from their palmflower. So we will have to look for them visually. We have them cut off so be on the lookout. There is no where for them to go."

Will put his commscan back on his belt and walked toward Bull Run. Behind him the young woman he had tackled and the man with him glared at him. Will made no apologies for his actions. He simply told them they resembled some dangerous fugitives and a mistake had been made. Then he asked them if they were going to file a compliant. He asked them while he rested his hand on his gun and tossed a homer in his other hand. The two had shook their heads and walked away. He knew Kim and Ron were in the area. He had played a hunch where the two were going and it worked. Now he had them and they would not escape. It was only a matter of time before they were spotted and captured.

* * *

Kim grabbed Ron and they pulled back deeper into the trees. They crawled through the brush until they came to the edge of the woods. Kim peered out to see what appeared to be an army camp. Then she realized that they had crawled into the area where the robot armies were. They were right outside of one of the Union camps. Kim prodded Ron with her elbow and they crawled a little further and into one of the tents. Inside the tent were two robot soldiers. They stood there holding their rifles ready to walk out of the tent and play their part. Kim pulled one of them down, opened its shirt and with one of Ron's knives slashed open the front of the robot. She reached in and started pulling wiring until there were sparks. Turning around she did the same to the other robot. Ron stared at her.

"Kim, what are you doing?"

Kim started to strip the clothing off the smallest of the robots.

"Ron, we have to find a place to hide or a way out of here. I saw a report on this place. These robots will move out into the fake battle in just a little while. They will fight for a bit then all of them will retreat over the river, up the hill and beyond. If we can hide among the robots, maybe just maybe we will find a way out of here. Now get dressed and do what I do."

Kim stripped in front of Ron and stuffed her clothes into her backpack then stuffed her backpack into the robot's backpack. Then she started to put on the uniform she had stripped off the robot. Ron quickly followed her lead and soon standing beside her with the robot's uniform on. Kim stuffed as much of her hair under her hat as possible. Ron turned her back to him and pulled the collar of her shirt up. Stuffing the rest of her hair down her shirt he was able to hide most of her hair. He picked up one of the hats that had cloth hanging down the back of the hat.

"Here this will help hide your hair. Just be REAL sure that you hat is not knocked off."

Ron picked up his hat and placed it on his head. They both picked up the rifles and stood gazing out of the tent flap. Then, the other robots started to line up in the camp. Kim and Ron found a place in the lineup and soon were marching out of the camp with the rest of the robot army. In the distance they could hear the crack of rifles and the booming of cannon fire.

* * *

Will strode up to the three DS agents on the far side of Bull Run.

"Well, didn't you see them? They had to come this way."

The first of three agents shook his head.

"No, we didn't see them. They must be hiding in the woods down there or over in the camp."

Will looked over at the camp.

"Call in the men at the main center. They will form a cordon around the area. We will go and search the camp."

Will and the other DS agents started to go through the camp. In the distance they could hear the fake battle going on in earnest. The crackle of rifle fire was so close together at times is sounded like a dull roar. Will glanced in a number of tents when some of the agents started to yell for him. He ran over and looked in the tent as the DS man held it open. Inside the tent were two disabled robots with no uniforms. He cursed under his breath and stormed out of the tent. He stared into the distance as smoke rose from the battlefield.

"Damn!"

* * *

Kim and Ron kept up with the troops as they crossed Bull Run and started up a hill. The gunfire in front of them roared and many of the robots started to fall. Then all of the troops they were with stopped raised their rifles and fired. Kim and Ron followed their movements as they fired and reloaded. They continued up the hill as the gunfire grew and grew. Robot soldiers kept falling to the left and right. The soldiers they were with gained the top of the hill only to find another line of soldiers in grey waiting for them. A voice boomed out over the battle field as one officer on horseback rode over to another.

"General, they are driving us back."

The second officer stared at their advancing group.

"Sir, we will give them the bayonet."

The first officer rode over to his retreating men.

"Look, there stands Jackson like a stonewall, rally behind the Virginians."

The grey clad soldiers turned and returned to the fight. The soldiers they were with started to withdraw then started to run. Many dropped their rifles and started to run. Kim and Ron dropped theirs and joined the mob running from the battlefield. They crossed Bull Run and continued to run away from the battle. Soon they were running amongst people in dress clothes carrying picnic baskets and blankets. Kim stopped and pulled Ron next to her behind a tree.

Ron yelled into her ear.

"What's going on?"

Kim thought back to her history.

"These dressed up folks were from the city. They thought the battle would be fun to watch and came out to have a picnic. They got caught up in the retreat. This can work for us. We should be able to mix with the soldiers and get out of here."

Ron looked up and his heart stopped. He grabbed her arm and pointed, at the top of the hill stood a line of heavily armed DS agents. They were shooting every robot soldier in sight. Kim looked around and saw a man and a woman dressed in fine clothes trying to get into a wagon. Kim ran and leapt onto the wagon and pulled the two of them into the back. Ron jumped right into the wagon with Kim.

* * *

Will's ears were still ringing from the screaming of the owner of the battle show. Will's men were destroying his robots by the dozen. The owner wilted and ran when Will suggested that he might consider charging the owner with helping runners if he didn't shut up. Will watched as his men continued to fire at the blue suited soldiers as they approached. There were many of the civilian dressed robots either running, on horseback or riding in carriages or wagons. He and his men ignored them as they knew Kim and Ron were wearing the blue uniforms. He glanced as one wagon rolled past him. The woman had her face buried into her man's shoulder. His face and shirt were covered in mud. The man turned his face away as he tried to comfort the frightened woman. Will stepped into the vacant space behind the wagon as it continued up the hill. He watched over the field trying to see the two he was hunting. He knew there was no way they could get past him wearing those uniforms. He didn't notice that the driver of the wagon held onto the reigns with fingerless gloves. The woman's hands were buried in his shirt had the same style of fingerless gloves on. The green eyed woman lifted her head and watched behind her as they left the battlefield.

* * *

Will walked across the battlefield. The owner finally decided to cut off the power to all the robots and they fell to the ground. The DS agents were inspecting each and every one of the blue clad soldiers. Agents on the other side of Bull Run were going over the grey clad troops. Will waited. He knew that he had them. There was no way that they could have gotten by him. He stepped around a tree and stopped to look around. There were many soldiers lying around and soon they would have checked all of them out.

An agent ran up to him.

"Sir, we have found something we think you might want to see."

Will followed the agent over the top of the field and into the area where the operating robots had gathered. He noticed a number of agents standing around one of the wagons. One saluted as he approached.

"Sir, one of the show workers just found this and reported it to us."

The agent held up a blue uniform top and a lady's dress. Will stared at the objects and then looked into the wagon. Lying in back of the wagon were two disabled robots; one man and one woman. Scattered in the back were the rest of the parts of two soldier's uniforms. There were also the remains of civilian clothes. Will's face started to turn red. He gripped the side of the wagon until his knuckles turned white. He spun around to look at the assembled agents.

"How long has this wagon been here?"

The other agent checked his commscan.

"The worker said the wagon entered the compound with its two riders approximately three hours ago. They were checking everything out when they found this. That was about 15 minutes ago. Wherever they were heading they have at least a two hour head start."

Will stared in the direction of the old city of Washington DC. He turned back to the other agents.

"Check all the mazecars in the area and continue checking everyone in the area. I am going ahead to check something out. "

The other agents nodded and turned away. Will shook his head and headed off toward the nearest mazecar station.

* * *

The morning sun shone on their faces as Kim and Ron held hands and the stared into the distance. They could see the remains of the old city of Washington DC. The remains of a number of the monuments and buildings could be still be seen. They smiled at each other and headed down the slope of the hill. Ahead they hoped to find the answers they so desperately sought.

* * *

I hope that you enjoyed this next update of Kimberly's Run.

Please leave a review.

The Captain


	14. Chapter 14

**Kimberly's Run  
****Chapter 14  
****Sanctuary or Cathedral**

Kim and Ron walked down what seemed to be an old road bed. Most of it was gone but enough was there that they could walk easy across the countryside. They came over a small hill and saw a river in front of them. There was an old bridge crossing the river but most of it had collapsed. They passed a metal sign on the road bed that said 395. Ron pointed to the left.

"Kim! Look!"

Kim glanced in the direction that Ron was pointing. In the distance they could see a tremendous building. It had what appeared to be five sides and had concentric five sided rings. Several parts of the building had collapsed. The two of them continued walking toward the old city. They reached the river and looked out over the old bridge in from of them. There were three spans at one time but now only one remained standing and most of that had collapsed. Gingerly they walked out over the span being careful to step around the many holes that dotted what was left of the bridge. Kim looked down through one of the holes to see the waters of the river rushing against the wreckage of the bridge that used to stand next to the one they were on. She took Ron's hand as they continued across the bridge and back onto dry land; just to their left stood a white stone structure. Ron looked up at the clouds building in the sky.

"Let's take cover in that building. It looks like a storm is coming."

Kim nodded and they headed for the building. As they got closer they could see the white columns of the building holding up a circular dome. A set of stone steps circled the building. They could see straight through so they knew that it would be open to the weather but at least they would be out of the rain. As they entered the building they could see a statue rising in the center. It was a statue of a man dressing in clothes of long ago. Kim noticed the writing on the walls of the building as she walked up to one panel and began to read.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We...solemnly publish and declare that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states...And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Ron came up behind Kim and looked up at the wall too.

"What does that all mean?"

Kim shrugged.

"I don't know Ron. This was written by those in the old times."

Ron looked over the wall again.

"Maybe so but it sure sounds nice."

Rain started to come down outside as Ron gathered some wood that was strewn on the marble floor. He found a place against one of the wall where the wind didn't seem to be as bad.

"You want a fire Kim?"

Kim shook her head.

"We better not. The smoke could give away out position. I know that Will will probably track us here. This is the largest city from where we were."

Ron nodded as took a seat on the floor. Kim took a seat next to him and lifted his arm around her shoulder.

"I guess we can head for the center of the city and hope to find the next stop. That is if we can avoid Will. Who knows how many troops he will call out to help find us?"

Ron snickered.

"I wonder if he will ever realize how close he came to us the other day."

Kim laughed a bit but her laugh soon died.

"That may be funny now, but we have really made a fool out of him several times. I know Will, he can't take that. He'll hunt us as long as it takes and if he finds us. He will make sure we go slow and painfully."

Ron nodded and pulled her closer to him.

"Yeah, let's get a little nap while it's raining. Then we can head out and see what we can find."

* * *

Kim and Ron stood outside of the building they had stayed in during the storm. They tried to walk toward the east but saw that the bridges over the water had collapsed. They headed north from the marble building when they came across another bridge that had fallen also. However, over the hundreds of years dirt and silt had filled in where the bridge had fallen and they were able to cross by carefully walking across the soft marshy soil. They were able to climb back up to dry ground and continue around would appeared to be a one time a body of water but was now a swamp. In front of them another marble building loomed among and over the trees. This one was even larger than the one they just left and was square. They walked up the many steps and entered the building. In front of them was another statue. This one was of a lean faced bearded man sitting in a large chair. There was more writing on the walls. Ron approached one section and began to read.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal"

Ron continued to read the rest of the writing at least as much as he could read. Kim came to his side and took his hand as they both read the wars. He turned to her.

"What is a Civil War?"

Kim shook her head.

"I don't know. I know about when the young took over from the older one and wisely did away with them. They had after all nearly destroyed our world. Maybe it was some type of war where there was no killing or anything like that. After all they called it a civil war. Maybe everyone was nice to each other. Come on; take a look out the front."

They turned and stared out over the area before them. Trees had grown over the years in the area but they could see that it had once been open. In the distance they would see the remains of some obelisk. It appeared to be square in shape and the color of the stone changed at one point. The stubbled top ended just above where the color of the stone changed. Further in the distance they saw another building. Even from where they were standing they could see a large expanse of steps. This had to be an important building.

Kim pointed to the building in the distance.

"Let's head for that place. It seems to be important."

They moved down the steps toward the building and enter the grove of trees that had grown in the large area before them. Soon they came upon the remains of the obelisk, its shattered structure lay spilled on the ground. They passed under the remains of the obelisk that was still standing. Before them was a great hole. Kim and Ron stared for a moment when Kim whispered.

"Teach's hole. I thought it was just a story. This is where it all happened. The blast must have knocked this over."

Kim gestured to the remains of the tower whose shadow they were standing in. They started around the north side of the hole as they continued toward the great building in the distance. They noticed another building in the distance. It was surrounded by the remains of a tall metal fence. Most of it was melted from the blast that occurred so many years ago. They also came across the remains of a large machine lying on the ground. Most of is rusted and there was a strange fan like structure on what appeared to be the top. Ron wiped some dirt from part of it and uncovered a round sign with an eagle in the middle. Around the edge of the sign they could just make out the words.

"The Seal of the President of the United States."

Kim shrugged.

"I guess he must have been someone important. Come on let's keep going."

Soon they arrived in front of the great building and started up the steps. It appeared to be in three sections; a central section and a section on either side. They kept going up and entered the remains of a door of the middle section. Sunlight beamed from the remains of a dome above them. They turned left and wandered through many halls until they came upon a great room. As they walked into the room a voice called out to them.

"Hello, my name is Wade. Can I help you?"

They turned to see a short man with very dark skin standing in a hallway to their left. His face was full of wrinkles and his hair, what little he had, was gray.

* * *

The man smiled at them.

"Welcome, it's nice to have visitors."

Kim stepped back, her hand going to her pistol that was now in its holster at her side. She glanced around her to see if Will or any other DS agents would appear.

"We are from the city. We are looking for the next stage of our trip. We are runners."

Wade looked at them funny.

"Runners? If you have been running then you must be tired. Please follow me and I can let you rest. Then I can show you around."

Ron shook his head.

"No, you don't understand. We are looking for the next step to Sanctuary."

Wade looked back at them.

"Sanctuary? The only Sanctuary I know of is at the Cathedral."

Kim and Ron's eyes grew wide.

"Cathedral? There is a Cathedral area here."

Kim turned to Ron.

"Ron the Cathedral back in the city was the first stop for runners. Maybe the Cathedral here is the end."

Kim turned to Wade.

"How do we get to the Cathedral and are there any Cubs?"

Wade scratched his head.

"I can tell you how to get there but I don't know anything about cubs. The only cubs I know of are the animal cubs that are around here. The lion and tiger cubs are just getting grown now. You will have to be careful on the way there."

Ron looked back and forth between Kim and Wade.

"Lions and tigers?"

Wade shrugged.

"Of course, when the animals escaped all those years ago they stayed in the area of the most part. What other kind of cubs are there?"

Ron was about to explain when Kim took his arm and motioned for him to hush.

"Can you tell us how to get there?"

Wade sighed.

"All of my visitors are always in such a rush. Very well, you just…."

"Stay right where you are."

Kim and Ron whirled around to see Will standing at the entrance to the room. His gun was drawn and pointed at them. Kim took a small step to the side. Will shook his head.

"Now Kimberly, don't do that. I know that you draw faster than any DS agent I have ever known. I must say it pains me to say that you are faster than me."

Will's aim changed slightly.

"I imagine you could draw and shoot me while I would have time to fire once. But you see. I would not be aiming at you but your boyfriend there."

Kim's hand moved away from her gun. Will smiled.

"That's a nice little girl. Now Ronald, I don't know where that little creature of yours is but unless you want your Kimberly to take a round in the face I would suggest that you have him with you so that I can see him."

Rufus crawled out of Ron's pocket and stood on Ron's shoulder. Will stepped to the side of the door and leaned against the wall. He waved the gun at Wade to move aside. Wade motioned for Kim and Ron to back up with him under a balcony.

"Now then what shall I…."

Before he could finish his sentence there was a spitting roar and a tiger leaped into the room from the balcony. Kim grabbed Ron and pulled him out of the room. Wade waved to them up one of the halls. He handed them a piece of paper that Kim recognized as a map.

"Here, I have marked where you need to go. Right now you need to head west as fast as you can. There is a place on the other side of the river where you might find a place to hide. The bridge is down, but you can cross over the river on the wreckage. Now go. I knew the tiger was there and it jumped in at the right time."

There was a pulse of Will's DS gun.

Wade shook his head.

"He will have his hands full for a little while. There are two more in the room. Now go."

Wade pushed them out one of the front doors and the two of them started to run back the direction they had come.

* * *

Kim and Ron were out of breath when they finally stopped on the other side of the river. There had been more bridge this time than the one they crossed before. They had passed the square building where the statue of the man sitting in the chair when they spotted the bridge. Running into a grove of trees off of one of the old roads, they kept going into some trees. They came upon a small clearing where they stood there for a moment staring at the sight before them. It was another statue, but this one was of several men. They all had on uniforms for some type and had weapons slung over their shoulders. All of them seemed to be trying to put a flag pole up in some rocks.

The two of them continued on through the trees and brush. They came upon a forest and moved into the trees. There they were surprised to see what appeared to be flat stones standing up all over the place. Kim noticed that they were in perfect rows and aligned from all directions. They continued up uphill until they came upon an area where there was another building and there were more stone markers but these were a lot bigger and stood in an area of stones on the ground. Kim walked up to one and read the inscription.

"**Here Rests** **In Honored Glory** **An American Soldier** **Known But To God**."

Ron turned to face Kim and she saw his face turn white. She spun around to see Will standing there. His uniform was torn and his face was scratched, but he held two DS guns both loaded with homers.

"Okay, no more playing. Raise your hands and get down on your knees, if you don't I shoot you in the knee. Now MOVE!"

Both of them knelt on the ground. Will settled his stance.

"Okay, Kimberly, very, very slowly, reach down and pull your weapon from your holster and toss it over here. One wrong move and Ronald will pay for it."

Kim lowered her hand slowly and pulled her gun from her holster. She gripped it tightly then tossed it at Will's feet. Will nodded.

"Very good, both of you place your hands on your head with your palms up."

Both of them complied and waited for Will's next move. Will flipped both of his wrists and they heard the sound of the homers charging up to fire.

"Any last words Kimberly?"

Kim shook her head. Will turned to Ron.

"Oh well no matter, I do have a message for Ronald here. Now Ronald, I want you to listen very closely. Do you understand?"

Ron nodded.

Will smiled.

"Okay Ronald. Now listen carefully. Queen's Bishop to Queen's Bishop 5."

Kim thought that Will had gone crazy until she turned to look at Ron. He was staring back at her, his face had turned a pasty white and sweat poured down his face. His eyes had dilated wide open. Kim knew that Ron was scared out of his mind.

"Ron, what's wrong?"

Kim glanced back to Will then back to Ron. Ron spoke with a quivering voice.

"Kim, he….he ….he has……"

Well everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Kimberly's Run. Sorry it took so long for me to get it our. Work has really increased lately to the point that I am doing twice to almost three times the amount of work I was doing six months ago. While that is amazingly good for my wallet, it is not so good about finding time to write. Updates may be a little slow for awhile.

It looks like Will has finally caught up with Kim and Ron. He has the homers charged and ready to fire then tells Ron what he did. What did he mean? What is going on? Why is Ron so scared? Stay tuned for the next chapter and find out.

This is the Captain

Roger and Out.


	15. Chapter 15

**Kimberly's Run  
Chapter 16**

* * *

"Oh well no matter, I do have a message for Ronald here. Now Ronald, I want you to listen very closely. Do you understand?"

Ron nodded.

Will smiled.

"Okay Ronald. Now listen carefully. Queen's Bishop to Queen's Bishop 5."

Kim thought that Will had gone crazy until she turned to look at Ron. He was staring back at her, his face had turned a pasty white and sweat poured down his face. His eyes had dilated wide open. Kim knew that Ron was scared out of his mind.

"Ron, what's wrong?"

Kim glanced back to Will then back to Ron. Ron spoke with a quivering voice.

"Kim, he….he ….he has……"

Ron swallowed and shook his head. This could not be. Everything was lost, he would have to watch Kim die by his side. If only he had more time. He opened his eyes to see Kim looking at him, he could tell she was scared. He turned to Will.

"Very good Will, I don't want to know how you got it."

Will sighed, yet continued to point his guns at both of them.

"Now come on Ron, humor me. What is the countersign?"

Kim watched Ron as he stared straight at Will and answered.

"King's knight to King's Rook 6."

Kim leaned over to Ron.

"Ron what is going on here?"

Ron glanced over to her.

"The quote Will just said is a top runner id phrase. Whoever he got it from was in the top 10 of the runner organization. I responded with the normal countersign."

Will nodded.

"Very good Ron. It helped me track some runners. Now, I have one more thing to say to you. King to King 3"

Ron started to shake his head.

"No it's not possible."

Will nodded.

"It's true Ron. King to King 3"

Kim was more confused than she had ever been. Ron had begun to smile. Why was he smiling? Will was getting ready to kill them and he was smiling.

Ron faced Will.

"King to King's bishop 5."

Ron and Will stated together.

"Checkmate."

Ron started to giggle, then laugh. He dropped his hands, grabbed Kim and proceeded to give her a kiss that nearly took out her tonsils. Kim pushed him back to catch her breath. She glanced over to see Will smiling at the two of them. She noticed that he had lowered both his guns and turned off the homers. She dove forward and scooped up her gun. She trained it on Will when Ron screamed.

"No Kim don't."

Kim hesitated.

"Give me one reason I should not shoot him where he stands."

Ron giggled again.

"It's simple. He is Ballard!"

Kim stared back at Ron.

"WHAT!"

* * *

Ron stepped over to Kim and gently took her gun from her hands. Kneeling in front of her he took her hands in his and placed them on his chest, then lifted his hands to cradle her face.

"Kim do you trust me?"

She nodded.

"How can I not trust you after what you have done over the past few days."

Leaning forward he placed a kiss on her forehead. Then pulling back he smiled at her.

"Good, then trust me when I say that he is Ballard. I met Ballard only a couple of times and each time I really could not see him. His voice was always disguised. The code phrase the two of us just quoted was a personal set of words between just the two of us. Only he knew what to say to me and I knew the countersign. Don't ask me how, but he is Ballard. We made it Kim. Next stop for us, Sanctuary."

Kim trembled for a moment, then the trembling made it's way to her lip. Pulling Ron to her she crushed him into a tight hug while tears poured down her face. Turning her face to Will, her eyes caught his face.

"WHY?"

Smiling back at her Will/Ballard stepped over and knelt beside both of them.

"I need to explain a few things and this is not the place. There are some other DS agents in the area. They are making sure no one leaves the area. Which reminds me."

Flipping the charge back onto the homers, Will stood and waited for them to reach full charge. Reaching full charge he aimed at a nearby tree and fired. Both homers his the trees and detonated. Spinning to the side, Will aimed at the side of the building that shadowed them. Firing quickly he shot into the side of the building several times. Holstering both weapons he pulled out his commscan.

"This is Will, I located both runners and terminated them. Kimberly put up a good fight, but her misguided love for the cook was her failing. She should have left him behind. There is no need to collect the bodies, I'll leave them for the local wildlife. Return to base. I need to check out where they might have been heading."

A voice on the commscan acknowledged the order as Will holstered it. He put out his hand and pulled Kim to her feet. Ron stood up beside her. Will nodded down the hill.

"Someone is waiting for us at the bottom of the hill. He will show us a way back into the city that no one can track."

Turning Will motioned for Kim and Ron to join him. They joined him and started down the hill. Soon Kim and Ron noticed they were approaching one of the ancient mazecar stations of long ago. These stations had long ago been abandoned. The three of them entered the old station and walked into the darkness. Will approached the station landing and opened a small door on one of the columns. Pressing a button inside the small door Will closed the door back flush with the column. Within a minute or so Kim and Ron could hear something coming down the tunnel. It didn't sound like a mazecar. Soon a metal car loomed out of the darkness and stopped in front of them. The door opened and all three of them entered the car. Pushing a button on the inside of the car Will took a seat while motioning Kim and Ron to do the same.

"This car is part of the old mazecar system for the city, back then they called it the metro. My friend set this car and a few others up so some of the members of runner organization could move around the city without exposing ourselves up in the open. We will have to change from one car to another but we will be able to get there pretty quick."

They traveled for a few minutes then at one point changed into another car. As the car slowed down at another station Will stood up and waited for the door to open. The car slowed to a stop and the door opened as it came to a stop. The three of them stepped out of the door and walked up out of the old station. Kim was surprised when they came to the surface near the old building where they met the Wade person. Will walked up the steps and retraced their steps into the room where they had met Wade. Crossing the room, Will stopped in front of an old wall and waited. A section of the wall opened and Will stepped to the side to wave Kim and Ron through the opening.

Kim and Ron stepped through the opening into a brilliantly lit room. There was computer equipment lining the walls. Kim marveled at the sight. This room has some serious computing power, almost rivaling the Thinker. Will pulled the opening closed behind him and motioned for Kim and Ron to continue into another room and have a seat. They noticed the Wade person sitting in front of several monitors and a number of keyboards and touchscreens. Wade turned and smiled.

"Well, it looks like you made it. I help the runners by trying to keep tabs on DS agents and others that would be looking for them. I also help Ballard when he needs help. Right now we have a proposition to make to the two of you."

Ron glanced over to Kim.

"Proposition? I thought we were on the way to Sanctuary."

Will/Ballard pulled a chair up to where Kim, Ron and Wade were sitting.

"Kim, first let me apologize for the way I have treated you. I knew the Thinker had sent you on a special mission when it docked you for that day you helped me. Wade broke through all the code and we knew the Thinker ordered you to continue your relationship with Ron, make your way to Sanctuary and destroy it. At first I thought you were just following orders, then you killed David. I don't know what changed your mind but from then on I was testing you. You proved to me that you were really running. There was a reason for all this and I hope you will let me explain something."

Will rubbed his hand. Kim noticed that his palm crystal was red.

"Kim, would you believe that I am nearly 40 years old?"

Kim's eye flew open.

"That's impossible, your crystal, its still red!"

Will looked at his palm and nodded.

"Yep, somehow my crystal was defective. Wade here found out what happened and was able to figure out a way to reproduce the defect. This is another reason that we wanted to talk to the two of you."

Will/Ballard stood up and started to pace.

"Kim, Ron. You have made it. This is not Sanctuary but it is the last stop before it. Both of you have shown ingenuity and bravery to get this far. You two have also shown a degree of teamwork that I have never seen before. If you want too, you are welcome to continue on to Sanctuary."

Kim closed her eyes and smiled.

"And once we reach there we can live, live forever?"

Will grinned.

"You won't live forever, but you could live an average lifetime of 70 to 80 years."

Kim sighed.

"and children?"

Will stepped over and touched her shoulder.

"Yes Kimberly, there can be children. Children free of the world you two grew up with."

Kim smiled and reached over to take Ron's hand. Ron's face turned brilliant red. Will continued.

"Sanctuary is not here. We will have to travel to an old missile range on the coast just south of here in a place people used to call Florida. There used to be an old space center down there. We have been able to get the place working and also get a number of rockets working. One of the things the older ones did before the war was to explore space."

Ron scratched his head.

"I thought that they didn't find anything."

Will shook his head.

"No they didn't find anything, but they did start a colony on the moon. Its not an easy life but one free of DS agents. Its all there for you if you want to go. But I would like you to listen for a moment. The Thinker is dying. I think you know that. Our society is dying with it. I took the persona of William the DS agent to watch out for runners and try to help them. I know that I can't reach all of them but I can some. I can also find those to help me."

Will stopped for a moment then continued.

"Kim, I have been looking for someone to take my place. I am tired and one day my luck will run out. I have been watching you ever since you joined DS. At first I wanted to watch you so I could get the runners to avoid you. Then out of all the people in the city to meet you had to meet Ron. Ron the special chef, but also one of the top people in the runner organization. Then you know the story from the there. I could see it in your eyes, you were in love with him. Then when you ran I knew I had to test you."

Kim's face grew grim.

"Test us, you tried to kill us."

Will nodded.

"Yes, I would have if I could have. I didn't know if you were just using Ron or that Ron had been taken in by you and he was leading you through the organization to kill it. It got to a point where all DS was after you. Then I had to play the part of William, trying to kill the runners. I hoped that I could help you when I could, but there were too many other DS agents around. It wasn't until you got here that I could help."

Will sighed.

"So Kim, Ron. What do you say? Do you want to go on to Sanctuary? I would not blame you in the least. The two of you could make a life for yourselves and raise the family you deserve. Or, you can stay here and work with Wade and I to get runners through the trail of DS agents to Sanctuary. We would set you up in another city. Kim would work as a DS agent. Ron would find work as a chef. The two of you would be more effective than just I could ever be. So again Kim, Ron. You have all the right to leave, but I ask you to stay and save this world one part at a time. What do you say?"

* * *

Pulling open her bag, Kim pulled the new device that Wade had given her before they left the base in Washington. Pressing the call button Wade's face appeared on the screen. Ron slipped to her side and put his arm around her shoulder. She sighed for a moment reveling in Ron's touch. She had on a new DS uniform, and Ron had on a chef's suit.

"Wade, we are just outside the city."

Wade nodded on the screen.

"Okay Kim. I have set up new identities for the both of you. You are now Kimberly 8, Ron is Ronald 12. You two ready?"

Kim stopped for a moment to glance down at the shining red crystal in her palm. Ron's palm had one just like it. She turned back to the screen.

"Yes Wade, we are ready. Are Ron's contacts ready? And how about our jobs?"

Wade typed on the keyboards for a moment.

"Kim, you will be assigned to the city's DS unit. Sorry, you will have to start at the bottom again. Ron, I was able to set you up at the most exclusive club in the city. Everything is set. I also set the two of you up in two apartments."

Kim's face came up in what Ron called her "Puppy Dog Pout".

"I thought we could share a place."

Wade shook his head.

"Now Kim, how much do you think that the runners would trust a man who lives with a DS agent? But I did make one little addition to your apartments. There is a special door that connects the bedrooms."

Ron thought for a moment.

"Why would we want..."

Ron stopped for a moment when he caught the look on Kim's face. A big smile crossed his face.

"Aaaa Boooooyaaahhhhh"

Kim purred as she snuggled up to him.

"Remember we have to practice for when we get to Sanctuary. Practice, practice, practice."

Ron smiled.

"I am all about practicing."

The palm device beeped.

"Uh, guys do you mind?"

Kim and Ron blushed as they separated. Kim looked into the screen.

"Okay Wade, we are going in. Kim out."

Kim put the device in her pocket. She reached out and took Ron's hand.

"Come on Ron, it's time to save our world."

They crossed a meadow and made their way into the city. As they passed a central plaza the holographic image of Walter 10 appeared.

"Greetings Citizens, this is Walter 10 with the news. DS units everywhere mourn the loss of William . He was a great DS agent and worked hard to keep our society safe. He died chasing a rogue DS agent who had already killed several other DS agent as she ran from our society. William was able to kill her and her partner before he died of his wounds. Let us remember his sacrifice.

In other news, the criminals Shego and Dr. Drakken have not been heard from in several weeks. It is rumored that they became very ill recently for some unknown reasons.

DS units in our southern area reported a bright light in the southern sky the other night. The cause of this great light is unknown at this time, however the Thinker has reported that it is a natural phenomena caused by the waste of the older ones from long ago. There is no need to worry."

Kim and Ron smiled as they looked up into the sky. They could just see the moon as it rose in the early evening sky. Ron took Kim's hand as they continued into the city.

"Our time will come, until then we have a job to do."

Kim squeezed his hand and pulled him over a kiss.

--

I hope all of you have enjoyed this story. I have enjoyed putting it together for you. First I would like to thank my two Dave's. They both helped me so much. Either helping me with the script, giving me ideas, doing beta work or just plain supporting me when I needed some support or kind words. Thanks guys this story is for both of you.

So I close one of the first real crossovers I have ever done. I tried to take parts of the movie and the book and mesh them into a story.

Please leave a review, I would appreciate it.

The Captain


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